BIOSCJENOESUBRARV 


LIBRARY 

I     ONIVWSWTY  Of 


u 


THE  LIBRARY 
OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


Frame  of  the  House  I  live  in. 


H-      '  .•  r 
•VrilJkAM 

THE 


HOUSE  I  LIVE  IN; 


THE   HUMAN   BODY. 


FOR  THE    USE    OF   FAMILIES    AND    SCHOOLS. 


BY   WM.  A.  ALCOTT, 

Author  of  the  Young  Mother  and  the   Young-  Man's  Guide,   and  Editor  of  tho 
Library  of  Health  and  the  Annals  of  Education. 


Second  SESftfon— 


BOSTON: 

LIGHT  &  STEARNS,  1  CORNHILL. 
1837. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1837,  by 
WM.  A.  ALCOTT,  in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court 
of  Massachusetts. 


PREFACE. 


THE  study  of  the  human  frame  has  usually 
been  confined  to  the  members  of  the  medical 
profession.  But  wherefore  ?  Why  should  not 
a  subject  which  so  nearly  concerns  us  all,  engage 
the  attention  of  others  as  well  as  surgeons  and 
physicians?  Do  we  not  carry  about  with  us, 
through  life,  a  machine  so  ingeniously  con- 
structed, that  in  view  of  it,  even  an  inspired 
writer  exclaimed,  "  I  am  fearfully  and  wonder- 
fully made  ?  " 

Our  minds,  moreover,  are  the  tenants  of  bodies 
so  constructed  as  to  be  continually  liable  to 
waste,  as  well  as  to  become  disordered  ;  and  yet 
we  are  neither  taught  the  way  to  keep  them  in 
order  nor  to  prevent  them  from  premature  decay. 
These  bodies  act  also  upon  our  minds  in  a  won- 
derful manner  ;  for  if  anything  in  the  body  is 
wrong,  it  affects  either  our  thoughts  or  our  feel- 
ings, or  both. 

To  keep  the  mind  and  heart  right,  therefore, 
we  should  know  how  to  keep  the  body  right. 
1* 


VI  „  PREFACE. 

"Who  understands  this  ?  What  persons  except 
medical  men,  as  I  said  before,  ever  study  their 
bodies  ?  Is  it  not  strange  that  knowledge  of 
such  vast  importance  should  have  been  so  long 
overlooked,  and  practically  disregarded  ? 

There  are  reasons,  however,  for  all  this 
neglect.  Many  connect  with  the  thoughts  of 
studying  the  human  frame,  the  idea  of  skeletons, 
dead  bodies,  knives,  dissections,  disinterments, 
and  violent  deaths.  No  wonder  the  mind  should 
revolt  at  so  horrible  a  picture  !  No  wonder  that 
Anatomy  and  Physiology — for  these  are  the 
hard  names  given  to  the  study  of  the  body  and 
the  laws  of  the  body — should  be  neglected  and 
despised,  if  these  things  are  inseparable  from  it ! 

But  they  are  not  so.  Both  anatomy  and 
physiology  may  be  studied  with  advantage,  with- 
out any  connection  with  either.  Much  may  be 
learned  with  the  aid  of  nothing  but  a  book  and 
a  few  good  engravings ;  and  in  fact  without 
either  of  these.  The  body  itself  may  be  studied ; 
that  is  always  at  hand.  And  if  dissections  are 
even  made,  portions  of  birds  or  quadrupeds  may 
be  obtained,  which  will  partly  answer  the  pur- 
pose. The  heart,  for  example,  of  most  of  the 
common  domestic  animals,  nearly  resembles  the 
heart  of  man,  and  would  answer  every  purpose. 
All  good  citizens  disapprove  of  every  form  of 


PREFACE.  VJ1 

disrespect  for  the  bodies  of  the  dead ;  and,  above 
all,  the  barbarous  practice  of  robbing  graves. 

Still  this  subject  must  be  studied.  Man,  as 
has  just  been  observed,  has  a  body  as  well  as  a 
mind.  A  system  of  education  which  overlooks 
either,  is  essentially  defective. 

It  was  in  this  view,  that  the  author  com- 
menced a  series  of  essays  on  anatomy  and  phy- 
siology, in  the  first  volume  of  the  Juvenile 
Rambler,  They  were  continued  into  Vol.  2,  of 
the  same  periodical,  and  also  into  Vols.  2,  3  and 
4  of  Parley's  Magazine.  Many  of  them  were 
written  under  the  title  of  the  "  House  I  live  in." 
The  favorable  reception  they  met  with,  and  the 
solicitations  of  parents  and  teachers,  together 
with  an  increasing  conviction  of  the  absolute 
necessity  of  something  of  the  kind,  have  in- 
duced him  to  go  farther,  and  prepare  a  work  for 
families  and  schools. 

But  he  wishes  it  to  be  distinctly  understood, 
that  he  does  not  intend  this  as  a  substitute  for 
any  known  work.  The  information  which  it 
gives,  in  anatomy  and  physiology,  would,  indeed, 
be  of  great  value,  without  the  study  of  other 
authors.  But  it  is  chiefly  intended  to  introduce 
the  young  to  such  works  as  Smith's  "Class 
Book  of  Anatomy,"  and  Comstock's  "  Outlines 
of  Physiology  ;  "  and  if  its  adoption  in  part  as 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

a  reading  book,  and  in  part  as  a  class  book, 
in  our  schools,  should  smooth  or  pave  the  way 
to  the  use  of  those  more  complete  works,  the 
writer  would  not  regret  its  publication. 

He  looks  forward  to  the  period  as  not  very 
distant,  whan  a  knowledge  of  the  physical  na- 
ture of  man  will  be  as  generally  taught  to  every 
individual  of  the  whole  race  as  arithmetic  and 
geography  now  are  ;  and  will  be  as  universally 
found  in  our  schools.  And  he  cannot  but  fondly 
hope  to  remove  a  little  of  the  repugnance  which 
many  feel  to  this  study,  by  the  peculiar  manner 
in  which  he  has  here  presented  it. 

The  general  plan  of  the  work  is  something 
more  than  mere  theory.  It  has  been  tested  by 
experiment,  both  in  school  and  elsewhere;  and 
with  the  most  complete  success. 

There  is  one  more  hope  that  the  author  in- 
dulges, in  the  publication  of  this  volume.  It  is, 
that  it  will  have  a  good  tendency  on  morals. 
Still  more  than  all  this.  Besides  having  the 
favorable  tendency  which  physiology  must  have 
on  human  happiness  generally,  the  writer  be- 
lieves that  no  branch  of  natural  science  is  more 
likely  to  induce  us  to  look  "  through  Nature  up 
to  Nature's  God." 

BOSTON,  JANUARY,  1837. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 13 

f 

;;/AI 

CHAPTER  I.— GENERAL  REMARKS. 

Size  of   the  House.    Its  Age — Beauty — Cost — Rooms- 
Occupants— Furniture 23—31 


CHAPTER  II.— FRAME-WORK  OF  THE  HOUSE. 

The  Thigh  Bone.  The  Leg.  The  Knee  Pan.  The 
Foot.  Arch  of  the  Foot.  Proof  of  Contrivance.  The 
Ankle.  .  .  32—40 


CHAPTER  III.— MATERIAL  OF  THE  FRAME. 

Structure  of  Bones.     Shape  of  the  Bones.     Particular 
Description.    Growth  of  Bone.    Vessels  of  the  Bones.  41 — 46 


CHAPTER  IV.— SILLS  OF  THE  HOUSE. 

Situation  of  the  Hip  Bones.    Structure.    The  Hip  Joint. 
An  Abuse.  .  ,  .  47—50 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  V.— BODY  OF  THE  HOUSE. 

Height.  The  Spine.  Each  Vertebra.  General  Descrip- 
tion. The  Ribs.  The  Breast  Bone.  The  Collar  Bone. 
The  Shoulder  Blade.  .  .  51—60 


CHAPTER  VI.— BODY  OF  THE  HOUSE.— CONTINUED. 
The  Arms.    The  Hand.    Uses  of  the  Hand 61—71 

CHAPTER  VII.— THE  CUPOLA. 

The  Cranium.  The  Teeth.  Growth  of  the  Teeth.  Struc- 
ture of  the  Teeth.  Uses  of  the  Teeth.  Bones  of  the 
Ear.  Bone  of  the  Throat 72—85 

CHAPTER  VIII.— THE  HINGES. 

The  Hip  Joint.  Shoulder  Joint.  Elbow  Joint.  Liga- 
ments. Capsules.  Wear  of  the  Joints.  Synovia. 
Abuses  of  the  Joints.  ,  .  86—101 


CHAPTER  IX.— REVIEW. 

Number  of  Bones.    Skeletons.    Anatomy.    Physiology. 
Uses  of  Bones.  .\  .  .102—112 


CHAPTER  X.— COVERING  OF  THE  HOUSE. 

The  Periosteum.  The  Muscles.  The  Tendons.  Struc- 
ture of  the  Muscles.  Action  of  Muscles.  Illustrations. 
About  Fat.  Reflections..  ...113—130 


CONTENTS.  XI 

CHAPTER  XL— THE  COVERING.— BOARDS  AND  SHIN- 
GLES. 

The  Skin.  Coloring  of  the  Skin.  Change  of  Color.  Oil 
Glands.  Pores  of  the  Skin.  Cleanliness.  Hair  and 
Nails 131-143 

CHAPTER  XII.— THE  COVERING.— THE  WINDOWS. 

General  Remarks.  The  Human  Eye.  Situation  of  the 
Eye.  Coats  of  the  Eye.  Optic  Nerve.  The  Tears. 
The  Eyelids.  The  Eyebrows.  Remarks..  .  .  144—156 

CHAPTER  XIII.— THE  COVERING.— THE  DOORS. 
The  Ear.    The  Nose.    The  Mouth 157—167 

CHAPTER  XIV.— APARTMENTS  AND  FURNITURE. 

General  Remarks.  The  External  Ear.  Chambers  of  the 
Nose.  The  Mouth,  internally.  The  Salivary  Glands. 
Passages  to  the  Ear.  The  Chest.  Cavity  of  the  Lungs. 
The  Food  Pipe.  The  Stomach.  The  Intestines.  Gall 
Bladder,  &c.  The  Abdomen.  The  Apartment  of  the 
Circulation.  Chambers  of  the  Brain 168—191 

CHAPTER  XV.— FURNITURE  OF  THE  HOUSE,  AND  ITS 

USES. 

The  Blood.  Preparing  the  Blood.  Mastication  or  Chew- 
ing. Swallowing.  A  Trap  Door.  Digestion.  For- 
mation of  Chyle.  Lacteals.  Absorbents.  Materials 
for  Blood.  Nature  of  the  Blood.  Uses  of  the  Blood. 
Nature  of  Secretion.  Motion  of  the  Heart.  Pulsa- 
tion. Force  of  the  Heart.  Capillaries 192—225 


Xll  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XVI.— FURNITURE,  AND  ITS  USES.— CON- 
TINUED. 

Purifying  the  Blood.  The  Lungs.  Capacity  of  the 
Lungs.  Breathing.  Uses  of  Breathing.  Nature  of 
the  Air.  Breathing  Air  twice.  Of  Ventilation.  Free 
Motion  of  the  Lungs.  Tight  Lacing 226—239 


CHAPTER  XVII.— TEMPERATURE  OF  APARTMENTS. 
Curious  Question.    Variations  of  Temperature. .  .  .  240 — 246 


INTRODUCTION. 


BEFORE  describing  "  the  house  I  live  in,"  it 
will  be  necessary  to  give  a  short  account  of 
other  houses. 


HUTS,  OR  WIGWAMS. 

Among  what  we  call  savage  nations,  buildings 
are  very  simple  in  their  construction,  and  rude 
in  their  appearance.  They  are  often  nothing 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

more  than  huts  formed  of  the  trunks  of  trees 
driven  into  the  ground,  and  fastened  together  at 
the  top.  The  branches  and  leaves  of  trees  are 
then  interwoven.  Afterwards  they  are  covered 
with  bark,  and  some  of  the  holes  are  perhaps 
filled  up  with  mud  or  clay.  Such  were  the  mis- 
erable huts  or  wigwams  of  the  North  American 
Indians. 

From  a  very  early  period  in  the  history  of  our 
world,  down  to  the  present  time,  the  people  of 
all  climates  have  felt  the  need  of  houses  to  live 
in,  of  some  kind  or  other.  In  hot  climates  they 
serve  as  a  shelter  from  the  scorching  rays  of  the 
sun,  or  the  drenching  rains  which  fall  at  certain 
seasons  ;  or  as  a  defence  against  wild  beasts 
and  reptiles.  In  cold  countries,  they  help  to  pre- 
vent us  from  freezing,  amid  the  frost  and  snow. 

Many  brute  animals,  as  you  know,  build  them- 
selves houses.  The  beaver,  the  muskrat,  the 
bee,  and  the  ant,  are  examples.  But  there  is 
one  thing  to  be  observed  here — which  is,  that 
neither  the  beaver  nor  any  otheranirnal  but  man, 
builds  its  house  one  jot  better  now,  than  it  did 
5000  years  ago  ;  and  if  the  world  should  last 
5000  years  longer,  these  animals  will,  undoubt- 
edly, continue  to  build  just  in  the  same  way. 


INTRODUCTION. 


15 


That  is  to  say,  they  make  no  improvement.  But 
man  has  been  constantly  altering  his  mode  of 
building,  and,  as  we  think,  making  improvements. 


ANOTHER  SORT  or  HUTS. 

One  kind  of  dwelling,  in  early  use,  was  in 
the  shape  of  a  dome.  The  frame  was  formed 
of  long  sticks,  which  would  bend  easily.  These 
were  sharpened  at  both  ends,  and  then  bent 
and  driven  into  the  ground.  Next,  these  frames 
were  thatched  (that  is,  their  roof  covered)  with 
straw.  After  this  they  were  plastered  inside 
and  outside,  with  clay  or  earth,  which  soon  be- 
came dry  and  hard.  A  place  was  left  for  a  door 
or  entrance,  but  not  more  than  two  or  three  feet 


16  INTRODUCTION. 

high,  so  that  on  entering  them  they  had  to  creep 
on  all  fours ! — A  hole  was  also  left  at  the  top, 
to  let  in  the  light  and  let  out  the  smoke. 

The  Caffres  and  other  nations  in  South 
Africa  live  in  such  habitations,  even  now. 
Large  villages,  called  Jcraah,  are  made  up  of 
them ;  and  the  king's  palace  is  nothing  more 
than  one  of  these  oven-like  houses,  a  little 
larger  than  the  rest ;  situated  perhaps  in  the 
midst  of  a  large  yard,  and  surrounded  by  a 
thick  row  of  rough  wooden  posts. 


TENTS. 

Another  kind  of  habitations  early  used  was 
tents.  They  were  at  first  made  of  skins  ;  after- 
wards of  felt,  and  various  kinds  of  cloth. 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

To  build  a  tent,  they  first  set  poles  very  firmly 
in  the  ground,  then  spread  on  the  covering  and 
fastened  it  to  ihern.  The  edges  of  the  covering 
are  fixed  to  the  ground  by  pegs,  or  in  some 
other  similar  way.  The  patriarchs  mentioned  in 
the  Old  Testament  dwelt  in  tents.  As  their 
wealth  consisted  chiefly  of  cattle,  they  could 
thus  move  their  houses  from  place  to  place,  to 
new  pastures,  very  conveniently.  The  Tartars 
and  Bedouin  Arabs  still  spread  their  tents  in  the 
deserts,  and  some  of  them  are  large  and  con- 
venient, and  very  richly  ornamented. 


ACCOUNT  OF  FRAMED  HOUSES. 

I  cannot  tell  exactly  at  what  period  men 
first  learned  to  cut  the  trunks  of  trees  into  a 
2* 


18  INTRODUCTION. 

square  form,  and  frame  them  together  into 
houses ;  but  you  see  that  these  framed  houses 
were  at  first  rather  rude  in  their  appearance. 
It  was  not  long,  however,  before  they  learned 
to  build  them  more  elegantly  ;  and  now  for 
many  hundred  years,  but  very  little  improve- 
ment has  been  made  in  the  style  of  wooden 
buildings.  But  instead  of  wood,  many  build- 
ings, especially  in  cities,  are  now  made  of  brick 
and  stone,  which  you  know  are  much  more 
durable  than  wood.  This  is  particularly  true  of 
stone,  which,  it  is  well  known,  will  last  several 
hundred  years. 

I  observed  that  there  had  been  but  very  little 
improvement  made  in  the  style  of  building  for 
many  hundred  years ;  but  I  meant  in  regard  to 
elegance.  People  are  learning,  every  year, 
how  to  construct  houses  so  as  to  make  them 
more  convenient  for  those  who  occupy  them  ; 
as  well  as  more  easily  and  cheaply  warmed, 
ventilated,  &c.  The  ventilation  or  airing  of 
buildings,  to  purify  them  and  make  them  more 
healthy,  was  once  scarcely  thought  of.  And 
as  for  fuel,  which,  so  long  as  a  country  was  new, 
many  were  glad  to  burn  as  fast  as  they  could, 
in  order  to  get  it  out  of  the  way,  they  are  now 


INTRODUCTION.  19 

contriving  every  ingenious  method   they  possi- 
bly can  to  save  it. 

FRAME  OF  A  MODERN  HOUSE. 

So  many  houses  are  built  of  brick  and  stone 
that  perhaps  some  of  my  young  city  readers 
will  scarcely  know  what  a  wooden  frame  means. 
At  any  rate,  they  will  not  know  the  names  of 
the  pieces  of  timber  of  which  it  is  composed, 
as  children  in  country  towns  usually  do.  I 
have  therefore  thought  it  would  be  best  to  pre- 
sent the  picture  of  a  wooden  house  frame,  which 
I  have  employed  an  eminent  artist  to  draw. 
It  will  be  very  necessary  for  the  reader  to  study 
it  a  little  while  ;  for  I  shall  speak  of  its  sills, 
posts,  girts,  cupola,  &,c.,  presently,  and  I  wish 
to  be  understood. 

When  they  build  a  wooden  house,  they  first 
lay  a  row  of  stones  for  underpinning.  Some- 
times they  use  other  things  instead  of  stones 
for  this  purpose  ;  but  not  often.  They  lay 
these  stones  in  a  square,  exactly  where  they 
mean  to  have  the  outside  walls  of  the  house. 
Having  taken  care  to  make  it  level,  that  is, 
just  as  high  in  one  place  as  another,  they 


20  INTRODUCTION. 

next  lay  on  four  long  square  sticks  of  timber, 
and  join  them  together  at  the  corners.  These 
they  call  sills.  If  a  house  were  to  be  exactly 
square — that  is,  just  as  long  as  it  is  wide — and 
you  were  to  stand  up  in  the  air,  over  the  sills, 
after  they  were  laid  upon  the  underpinning  and 
framed  together,  they  would  look  a  little  like 
the  following  figure. 


When  they  have  placed  the  sills,  and  put 
other  pieces  of  timber  across  the  inside  of  them, 


INTRODUCTION.  21 

then  they  set  up  other  upright  sticks  upon  them, 
and  frame  them  into  the  sills  at  the  bottom,  and 
fasten  them  together  with  beams,  studs,  braces, 
&c.,  in  such  a  manner  that  they  cannot  fall 
down  ;  and  this  they  call  the  frame. 


Here  is  a  view  of  the  front  or  fore  side  of  the 
frame  of  a  wooden  dwelling  house.  The  en- 
graver has  marked  it  with  letters,  so  that  I  can 
describe  it  to  you  without  difficulty.  As  you 
look  upon  the  front  part  of  it,  you  can  of  course 
see  only  one  of  the  sills. 


INTRODUCTION. 

That  which  looks  checkered  at  the  bottom  is 
the  underpinning.  It  is  marked  u,  u.»  On  it 
lies  the  front  sill  of  the  house,  s,  s.  Four  large 
upright  pieces  of  timber  standing  on  it  are  called 
posts,  p,  p,  p,  p.  The  cross  piece,  b,  &,  which 
unites  them,  is  a  beam.  The  other  cross  pieces, 
half  way  from  the  beam  to  the  sill,  are  called 
girts,  g,  g.  Studs,  marked  st,  are  small  up- 
right sticks  framed  into  the  cross  pieces.  Along 
the  top  of  the  house  is  the  ridge,  or  ridge-pole, 
r,  into  which  are  framed  sloping  or  oblique 
pieces,  to  support  the  roof.  These  are  called 
rafters,  or  spars,  sp.  On  the  top  of  the  house, 
at  c,  is  the  frame  of  the  cupola.  The  place 
for  a  door,  is  marked  d}  and  the  places  for 
windows,  w.  The  short  slanting  pieces,  like 
those  marked  br — all  those,  I  mean,  which  are 
between 'the  sill  and  beam — are  called  braces. 
Their  use  is  to  strengthen  the  frame. 

With  this  short  description,  I  hope  what 
I  have  to  say  in  the  following  chapters  will  be 
fully  understood. 


THE   HOUSE   I   LIVE   IN. 


CHAPTER  I. 

GENERAL  REMARKS. 

Size  of  the  House.    Its  Age — Beauty — Cost 
— Rooms — Occupants — Furniture. 

"  THE  house  I  live  in  "  is  a  curious  build- 
ing ;  one  of  the  most  curious  in  the  world. 
Not  that  it  is  the  largest,  or  the  oldest,  or  the 
most  beautiful,  or  the  most  costly  :  or  that  it 
has  the  greatest  number  of  rooms  or  occupants, 
or  the  most  fashionable  furniture.  But  it  is 
one  of  the  most  wonderful  buildings  in  the 
world,  on  account  of  the  skill  and  wisdom  of 
the  great  Master  Workman  who  planned  it. 
You  cannot  view  it  closely  in  any  part  of  it, 
without  being  struck  with  the  wisdom  he  must 
certainly  have  had,  nor  without  desiring  to  be- 
come acquainted  with  him. 


24  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

SIZE  OF  THE  HOUSE. — I  said  it  was  not 
the  largest  building  in  the  world.  Very  far 
indeed  from  that.  The  mosque  of  Omar,  at 
Jerusalem,  which,  according  to  travellers,  is 
1489  feet  (more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile)  long, 
and  995  feet  wide,  covering  forty-one  acres, 
is  of  course  millions  of  times  as  large.  The 
palace  and  church  of  the  Escurial  in  Madrid,  in 
Spain,  is  nearly  a  mile  in  circumference.  The 
great  tobacco  factory  at  Seville,  in  Spain,  covers 
about  seventeen  acres,  and  is  of  course  millions 
of  times  as  large  as  my  house  is.  So  are  also 
St.  Peter's  Church  at  Rome,  and  St.  Paul's  in 
London  ;  the  latter  of  which  covers  six  acres. 
Even  the  City  Hall  in  New  York,  which  is  only 
216  feet  long  and  105  broad,  is  many  thousand 
times  as  large  as  the  house  I  live  in.  In 
truth,  the  latter  is  only  a  foot  or  two  in  extent 
in  any  direction.  Its  height  is  almost  as  dimin- 
utive as  its  extent ;  for  though  it  has  two  stories, 
with  a  cupola,  it  scarcely  towers  beyond  the 
height  of  six  feet. 

ITS  AGE. — It  is  not  the  oldest  building  in 
the  world.  A  traveller  assures  me  that  he 
once  saw  a  house  in  Nantes,  in  France,  in 


GENERAL    REMARKS.  25 

which  Julius  Caesar  slept  at  the  time  of  his  pass- 
ing through  France  to  invade  Great  Britain ; 
which  you  know  is  almost  two  thousand  years 
ago.  Buildings  of  brick  and  stone  several 
hundred  years  old  are  very  common  in  Europe. 
They  are,  of  course,  less  so  here,  because  it  is 
little  more  than  200  years  since  our  ancestors 
came  over  here,  and  began  to  drive  away  the 
savages  and  erect  dwellings.  Yet  even  here 
you  will  occasionally  find  a  house  nearly  200 
years  old.  There  are  some  wooden  houses, 
both  in  Boston  and  its  vicinity,  which  are  not 
far  from  150  years  old.  But  the  dwelling  I 
am  going  to  tell  you  about  has  not  yet  stood 
half  a  century. 

ITS  BEAUTY. — The  house  I  live  in  is  not 
the  most  beautiful.  It  is  not  indeed  without 
beauty;  but  how  would  it  compare  with  the 
elegant  temple  of  Solomon,  in  the  days  of  its 
glory  ? — or  with  the  Arcade  of  Providence,  the 
Massachusetts  Hospital  in  Boston,  or  the  Capi- 
tol at  Washington  ?  Some  indeed  undertake 
to  say  that  it  is  a  great  deal  more  beautiful  than 
any  of  these  !  On  this  point  I  leave  you  to  form 
3 


26  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

your  own  opinion,  after  I  have  told  you  more 
about  it. 

ITS  EXPENSE. — Nor  is  it  the  most  costly. 
Many  a  building  has  cost  its  millions  of  dollars. 
The  Capitol  at  Washington  cost  two  millions, 
and  even  the  City  Hall  in  New  York  half 
a  million.  The  Seville  tobacco  factory,  in 
Spain,  cost  six  millions.  Some  European  pal- 
aces, or  residences  of  kings,  probably  cost  a 
dozen  or  twenty  millions.  The  house  I  live 
in  meanwhile,  did  not  probably  cost  one  thou- 
sand. Indeed  it  scarcely  cost  me  anything  ; 
for  it  was  found  ready  to  my  hand.  The  ex- 
pense of  the  human  frame  would  be  much  more 
than  it  is,  were  we  not  more  anxious  to  bring 
it  to  maturity  as  quickly  as  possible,  than  to 
have  it  strong  and  firm.  In  general,  the  slower 
the  growth  of  the  body,  the  better. 

ROOMS. — Nor  does  it  contain  the  greatest 
number  of  ROOMS  that  I  have  ever  known  in  a 
building.  It  contains  indeed  a  very  large  num- 
ber for  so  small  a  place.  Perhaps  there  may 
be  a  dozen,  or  fifteen,  or  twenty.  Whereas  the 


GENERAL    REMARKS.  27 

Astor  House  in  New  York  contains  several 
hundred,  many  of  them  large  and  commodious  ; 
and  the  Tremont  House  in  Boston,  one  hundred 
and  eighty.  The  Palace  of  the  Escurial  in 
Madrid  has  1860  rooms. 

OCCUPANTS. — As  to  the  number  of  occu- 
pants, it  will  not  compare  at  all  with  most 
buildings.  Churches  will  contain  a  thousand 
people  at  a  time — some  of  them  more.  Thea- 
tres will  also  accommodate  their  thousands  of 
visitors.  Public  houses  will  even  accommodate 
their  hundreds  of  travellers,  and  some  of  our 
boarding  establishments  many  hundreds  of 
boarders.  1  have  been  shown  a  few  boarding 
houses  in  our  own  manufacturing  villages  that 
contained — not  accommodated,  for  they  did 
not — three  or  four  hundred  boarders.  In  Paris, 
Vienna,  Edinburg,  St.  Petersburg,  and  even  in 
New  York,  fifty  persons,  and  sometimes  more, 
are  occasionally  crowded  together  into  a  single 
building.  The  Spanish  tobacco  factory,  of 
which  I  have  already  spoken,  employed  1500 
to  2000  persons.  But  the  house  I  am  de- 
scribing, like  the  huts  of  some  of  the  ruder 


28  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

tribes  of  New  Holland,  never  accommodates 
but  one  person,  and  that  is  myself. 

I  have  mentioned  the  rude  huts  of  some 
tribes  of  the  New  Hollanders  ;  but  theirs  will 
not  compare  very  well  with  mine  throughout. 
They  are  made  of  the  bark  of  a  single  tree, 
bent  in  the  middle,  and  placed  with  its  two 
ends  on  the  ground.  When  they  have  lived  in 
a  hut  of  this  kind  as  long  they  please,  they  leave 
it;  and  if  they  go  to  a  new  place,  build  an- 
other :  and  the  old  one  is  taken  possession  of 
by  any  that  choose.  Whereas  I  always  carry 
my  house  with  me  wherever  I  go. — You  will 
interrupt  me,  perhaps,  by  saying  that  the  snail, 
the  tortoise,  the  oyster,  and  the  lobster,  do  the 
same  ;  and  you  are  right. 

The  house  I  live  in  is  good  for  nothing  at  all 
for  any  one  but  myself;  and  when  I  leave  it, 
it-  will  immediately  go  to  decay.  I  would  not 
exchange  it,  however,  if  I  could.  I  like  it — 
as  the  Icelander  does  his  frozen  country — 
better  than  any  other. 

FURNITURE. — Lastly,  I  have  already  con- 
fessed that  my  furniture  is  not  of  the  most 
fashionable  kind.  Of  this  the  reader  can 


GENERAL    REMARKS.  29 

best  judge  for  himself  when  he  understands 
that  it  has  been  the  same  in  kind  for  nearly 
forty  years.  The  fashions  you  know,  in  gen- 
eral, are  often  changing  like  the  moon  ;  and 
what  is  in  fashion  now,  will  next  year  appear 
ancient.  Can  it  be  expected,  then,  that  the 
furniture  which  was  selected  for  the  house  I 
live  in  during  the  past  century,  will  correspond 
with  the  fashions  of  the  present  ? 


In  Siam,  they  build  their  houses  on  posts  or 
pillars.  This  is  because  the  country  is  low, 
and  apt  to  be  overflowed  every  year  by  the 
rivers  ;  and  to  build  on  high  posts  is  the  only 
way  to  secure  themselves  against  these  floods. 
My  house,  as  you  will  see  hereafter,  stands  on 
3* 


30 


THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN, 


pillars,  but  they  are  made  for  motion ;  whereas 
you  cannot  move  a  Siamese  house  without 
spoiling  it. 

There  is  one  thing  which  bears  a  slight 
resemblance  to  the  house  I  live  in.  It  is  the 
house,  or  tower,  sometimes,  in  the  East  Indies, 
placed  on  the  back  of  the  elephant.  In  these 
houses  or  towers  the  people  travel — twenty  or 
more  of  them  at  a  time.  In  like  manner,  I 
carry  about  my  house,  from  place  to  place, 
wherever  I  go.  Here  is  a  picture  of  the  house 
on  the  back  of  an  elephant,  of  which  I  have 
just  spoken. 


The  house  I  live  in,  after  all,  is  most  re- 
markable for  its  convenience.     Nothing  could 


GENERAL    REMARKS.  31 

• 

possibly  so  well  answer  my  purpose.  I  have 
already  told  you  that  it  would  be  good  for 
nothing  for  any  other  person.  Your  house, 
my  young  reader,  may  be  as  beautiful,  as  curi- 
ous, as  large,  and  even  as  commodious  for  you, 
as  mine  is  for  me  ;  but  it  would  never  answer 
my  purpose  at  all,  even  if  I  had  it  in  my 
power  to  exchange  with  you. 

In  the  progress  of  the  following  chapters,  I 
shall  give  you  many  more  particulars.  I  shall 
describe  to  you,  in  the  best  way  I  can,  the 

FRAME,  the  COVERING,  the  APARTMENTS,  the 

FURNITURE,  and  the  EMPLOYMENTS  of  the 
house  I  live  in ;  and  shall  give  you,  briefly, 
an  account  of  the  structure,  uses  and  abuses  of 
each.  At  first,  I  intended  to  insert  a  little 
dictionary  or  vocabulary  of  the  hard  words 
which  occur,  with  their  meanings  ;  but  I  be- 
lieve it  is  unnecessary  ;  for  there  are  few,  if 
any,  whose  meaning  you  will  not  know  at  once, 
either  by  their  sense  or  the  situation  in  which 
they  are  placed. 


CHAPTER  II. 


FRAME-WORK  OP  THE   HOUSE. 

The  Thigh  Bone.  The  Leg.  The  Knee 
Pan.  The  Foot.  The  Arch  of  the  Foot. 
Proof  of  Contrivance.  The  Ankle. 

THE  picture  which  you  see  on  the  next 
page  will  at  once  unravel  all  the  mysteries 
of  the  last  chapter.  You  will  see  that  the 
house  I  live  in  is  my  body — the  present  resi- 
dence of  my  immortal  spirit.  You  will  also 
discover  that  the  frame-work  consists  of  bones. 

THE  PILLARS. — The  pillars  are  the  bones 
of  the  lower  extremities.  Standing  by  them- 
selves., as  they  do  in  the  engraving,  you  will  be 
apt  to  think  they  are  not  well  proportioned  ; 
but  when  you  come  to  see  them  in  connection 
with  the  rest  of  the  building,  they  will  appear 
very  differently. 


FRAME-WORK    OF    THE    HOUSE. 


33 


I  spoke  of  the  lower"  extremities  of  the 
human  frame.  These  are]  commonly  reck- 
oned in  three  divisions ;  the  thigh,  the  leg,  and 
the  foot.  Besides  these,  there  is  the  knee  pan 


34  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

or  patella.     Each  thigh  has  one   bone,  each 
leg  two,  and  each  foot  twenty-six. 

Besides  these — fifty-eight  in  the  whole  in  both 
legs — and  the  two  patellas,  there  are  in  some 
people,  at  the  largest  joint  of  the  great  toe,  one 
or  two  small  bones,  having  a  slight  resemblance 
to  the  knee  pan,  or  patella.  They  are  called 
sesamoid  bones  ;  because  they  have  been  sup- 
posed to  resemble  the  seeds  of  the  sesarnum,  a 
wild  eastern  plant. 

THE  THIGH  BONE. — The  bone  of  the 
thigh  is  called  tbefejnur.  It  is  the  longest 
bone  in  the  whole  human  frame.  At  its  upper 
end,  where  it  is  connected  with  the  hip  bone, 
is  a  round  knob  or  head.  This  head  fits  into  a 
corresponding  hollow  or  cavity  of  that  bone, 
and  is  fastened  there  in  a  way  which  will  be 
described  in  another  place.  These  round 
heads  do  not  appear  quite  round  enough  in  the 
engraving  at  the  head  of  this  chapter.  The 
cut  at  the  part  of  the  book  just  referred  to 
represents  this  important  part  of  the  human 
frame  much  more  correctly. 


FRAME-WORK    OF    THE    HOUSE.  35 

THE  LEG. — The  lower  end  of  the  femur 
joins  with  or  rather  rests  upon  the  large  bone 
of  the  leg.  The  leg  below  the  knee  consists 
of  two  bones.  The  tibia  (so  called  because  it 
resembles  a  tube  or  pipe,  or  as  some  have 
imagined,  a  hautboy)  is  much  the  largest. 
The  other  is  called  \\\e  fibula.  They  are  so 
placed  that  the  fibula  is  on  the  outside.  Where 
the  tibia  and  the  femur  meet,  they  form  what 
is  called  a  hinge  joint,  which  means  a  joint 
that  will  only  allow  of  motion  backwards  and 
forwards  in  one  direction,  like  a  door  on  its 
hinges.  But  more  about  this  in  another  place. 

THE  KNEE  PAN. — On  the  fore  part  of  each 
lower  extremity,  where  the  femur  meets  the 
tibia  and  fibula,  to  form  the  knee  joint,  the 
patella  or  knee  pan  is  placed.  This  is  a  round 
flat  bone,  not  joined  to  the  other  bones,  but 
lying  very  closely  on  them,  and  kept  in  its 
place  by  what  are  called  tendons.  You  may 
see  a  little  how  this  bone  looks  in  the  last 
engraving  ;  but  I  here  present  you  with  a  pic- 
ture of  it,  on  a  larger  scale. 


36  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 


Although  this  bone  might  seem  at  first  view 
almost  useless,  yet  it  serves  many  important 
purposes  ;  and  there  is  scarcely  a  bone  in  the 
body  but  might  be  spared  as  well  if  not  better 
than  this. 

THE  FOOT. — The  bones  of  the  foot  have  a 
general  resemblance  to  the  bones  of  the  handr 
which  I  shall  describe  fully  in  another  place. 
But  they  also  differ  from  those  of  the  hand  in 
several  important  particulars. 

The  foot  is  composed  of  twenty-six  little 
bones,  strongly  fastened  together  by  gristle,  or 
ligaments.  These  ligaments  yield,  when  we 
bear  upon  the  foot,  just  enough  to  have  it  con- 
form to  the  surfaces  on  which  we  tread.  If 
the  foot  consisted  of  one  solid  bone,  it  would 
not  yield  or  spring  at  all;  and  it  would  be 
liable  to  be  broken  when  we  jump  or  fall  on 
our  feet.  Think  how  clumsy  a  wooden  foot 
would  be !  And  one  of  solid  bone  would  be 
nearly  the  same  thing. 


FRAME-WORK    OF    THE    HOUSE.  37 

ARCH  OF  THE  FOOT. — The  arching  of  the 
foot  is  a  singular  contrivance.  It  is  really 
much  like  an  arched  bridge  and  its  two  abut- 
ments. I  will  explain. 


In  the  above  engraving,  the  foot  is  not 
placed  flat  down  upon  the  .ground,  but  in  the 
position  which  it  has  when  we  walk,  and  are 
just  setting  it  down.  Then,  as  may  be  seen 
by  the  two  lines  drawn,  it  descends  in  a  semi- 
circle from  the  point  of  the  heel. 

You  may  easily  perceive  how  awkwardly  we 
should  feel  if  we  were  obliged  to  walk  with  a 
flat  foot,  by  lashing  a  strip  of  wood  to  the 
bottom  of  the  foot.  It  is  quite  evident  there 
would  be  no  spring  when  we  tread  on  it.  We 
could  hardly  walk,  run,  leap  or  swim. 

Another  thing.  The  heel  is  not  exactly 
under  the  leg,  but  runs  back  like  a  spur,  and  is 
4 


38  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

fastened  to  the  main  body  of  the  foot  by  a  very 
firm  but  springy  (elastic)  joint.  On  this  ac- 
count, when  \ve  walk,  (the  heel  being  thus 
formed  like  a  spur,  and  having  a  great  deal  of 
elasticity,)  we  put  it  down  first,  and  the  whole 
weight  of  the  body  does  not  come  down  with 
a  jolt,  but  more  gently. 

ITS  CONTRIVANCE. — Taken  altogether,  the 
foot  is  a  most  admirable  contrivance.  It  is, 
indeed,  arched  both  ways ;  from  the  toes  to  the 
heel,  and  from  side  to  side.  It  will  help  you 
to  get  a  clearer  idea  of  this  arched  structure, 
to  step  into  the  water  with  your  bare  foot,  and 
then  step  immediately  upon  a  dry  floor,  and 
see  what  sort  of  a  track  it  will  make.  You 
see  only  a  small  spot  for  the  heel,  and  several 
such  small  spots  for  the  toes.  Little,  if  any, 
of  the  middle  part  of  the  foot  touches  the 
floor  at  all.  There  is,  however,  a  difference 
in  feet.  Some  persons  have  much  flatter  feet 
than  others. 

I  have  said  that  the  human  foot  is  a  most 
admirable  contrivance  ;  and  it  is  so.  There  is 
nothing  like  it  to  be  found  among  the  other 
animals,  though  we  find  wonders  even  there. 


FRAME-WORK    OF    THE    HOUSE."  39 

When  we  examine  the  foot  of  the  camel,  the 
elephant,  the  horse,  the  dog,  the  cat  or  the 
bird,  we  are  struck  with  the  wisdom  of  the 
Creator,  in  adapting  their  feet  in  so  remarkable 
a  manner  to  the  sort  of  life  they  are  destined 
to  lead.  The  foot  of  the  camel  is  so  made, 
that  it  does  not  sink  deeply  into  the  sand  on 
which  it  travels.  The  horse  could  not  travel 
much  in  the  deep  sands  of  Arabia.  His  foot 
is  more  elastic,  and  made  for  firmer  ground. 
It  is,  indeed,  so  very  elastic,  that  those  who 
shoe  the  horse  find  it  necessary  to  make  the 
shoe  as  narrow  around  the  edge  as  possible,  so 
that  the  iron  may  not  press  upon  the  inside  of 
the  foot ; — I  mean,  upon  the  softer  and  more 
elastic  part,  inside  of  the  hoof. 

I  have  not  room  to  go  into  farther  particulars 
about  the  foot ;  but  I  should  like  to  do  it. 
Children  are  very  fond  of  these  studies,  though 
some  people  think  otherwise.  They  are  better 
philosophers,  too,  than  we  usually  allow  them 
to  be ;  and  if  these  subjects  were  only  pre- 
sented in  plain  language,  and  the  instructor 
would  take  time  enough,  they  would  under- 
stand the  philosophy  of  the  foot  better  than 
many  of  us,  their  seniors,  suppose.  People 


40  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

are  not  apt  to  give  young  children  time  enough 
to  get  clear  and  well-fixed  ideas  of  things. 
Both  teachers  and  parents  are  quite  too  apt  to 
hurry  over  things  rapidly,  as  if  they  thought 
the  young  would  be  wise  in  proportion  to  the 
number  of  books  studied,  or  rather  run  over. 

THE  ANKLE. — Between  the  lower  ends  of 
the  tibia  and  fibula,  and  the  bones  of  the  foot, 
are  seven  short  bones,  not  unlike  those  of  the 
wrist  in  shape,  but  rather  larger.  Of  these 
you  will  get  a  tolerable  idea,  when  I  come 
to  describe  the  bones  of  the  upper  extremities. 


CHAPTER   III. 


MATERIAL  OF  THE  FRAME. 

Structure  of  Bones.  Shape  of  the  Bones. 
Particular  Description.  Growth  of  Bone. 
Vessels  of  the  Bones. 

You  have  already  seen  that  the  frame-work 
of  "  the  house  I  live  in  "  consists  chiefly  of 
bone.  I  think,  therefore,  that  before  we  go 
any  farther,  I  ought  to  tell  you  how  bones  are 
constructed,  and  of  what  substances  they  are 
made. 

STRUCTURE  OF  BONE. — Sticks  of  timber 
are  evidently  full  of  little  holes ;  for  if  you 
take  a  piece  of  wood,  of  several  kinds  which  I 
could  mention,  and  put  your  mouth  at  one  end 
of  it,  and  blow  hard,  you  can  force  air  through 
it.  This  shows'that  there  are  little  holes  in  it, 
running  lengthwise,  all  the  way  through.  If 


42  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

you  could  blow  hard  enough,  you  might  blow 
through  any  kind  of  wood  whatever.  The 
philosopher  and  chemist  will  force  water  and 
even  quicksilver  through  the  pores  of  almost 
any  sort  of  wood.  Surely  then  air  can  go 
through.  At  all  events,  whether  we  can  get 
the  air  through  or  not,  there  are  indeed  holes 
through  it. 

But  you  cannot  blow  through  any  of  the 
timbers  of  the  house  I  live  in.  This  shows 
that  the  internal  structure  of  bone  is  very  differ- 
ent from  that  of  wood.  I  will  endeavor  to 
show  you  wherein  it  is  different. 

SHAPE  OF  BONES. — Bones  are  of  three 
kinds  ; — long  bones,  broad  or  flat  bones,  and 
round  bones.  The  long  bones  have  a  hollow 
through  them  containing  marrow  or  pith ;  but 
the  other  two  sorts  of  bones  have  no  such 
hollow.  They  have,  however,  a  great  many 
little  holes  or  cells  in  the  inside.  Some  of 
them  look,  on  breaking  them,  almost  like  sponge 
or  honey-comb.  Some  of  the  long  bones,  be* 
sides  being  hollow,  are  also  spongy.  They 
are  largest  and  most  spongy  at  the  ends,  and 
smaller  and  more  firm  at  the  middle. 


MATERIAL    OF    THE    FRAME.  43 

All  the  bones  in  the  body  are  very  hard  on 
the  outside.  Perhaps  the  teeth  are  most  so. 
The  inside  of  the  teeth  is  not  much  harder 
than  other  bones;  but  the  outside  is  coated 
with  a  substance  called  enamel,  which  is  very 
hard  indeed. 

PARTICULAR  DESCRIPTION. — You  have  al- 
ready been  told  that  the  long  round  bones, 
such  as  the  humerus  and  the  femur,  are  hollow, 
and  have  marrow  in  them.  This  marrow  nearly 
or  quite  fills  up  the  hollow.*  There  is  a  very 
thin  membrane  that  lines  the  hollow,  and  also 
runs  among  the  marrow.  The  same  sort  of 
membrane  lines  also  the  little  cells  in  the 
spongy  bones.  These  cells  have  a  small  quan- 
tity of  liquid  in  them.  None  of  them  appear 
to  be  entirely  empty. 

Most  of  the  bones  are  pierced  through  their 
outside  with  one  or  more  holes  of  considerable 
size,  through  each  of  which  goes  an  artery  to 
convey  blood  to  the  bones  ;  and  a  vein  comes 


*  This  is  true  of  the  bones  of  most  other  animals 
besides  man.  Some  of  the  bones  of  birds,  however, 
are  said  to  be  entirely  hollow  and  empty. 


44  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

out  the  same  way,  to  bring  it  back.  You  may 
wonder  that  I  should  talk  about  blood  in  the 
bones.  But  there  is  blood  in  them,  though 
not  a  great  deal.  This  blood,  and  the  nerves 
and  membranes  of  the  bones,  together  with  the 
marrow  and  liquid  matter  which  they  contain, 
amount  to  many  pounds  ;  for  after  the  bones 
of  any  animal  have  been  dried  several  years 
in  the  air,  they  become  almost  twice  as  light 
as  before.  The  bones,  when  perfectly  dry, 
weigh  from  eight  to  twelve  pounds. 

When  they  appear  entirely  dry,  if  you  burn 
them  in  a  hot  fire  for  a  long  time,  you  will 
lessen  their  weight  a  great  deal  more  ;  I  be- 
lieve about  one  half.  What  burns  out,  in 
these  cases,  is  animal  substance — principally 
gelatine.  The  half  which  remains  is  mostly 
carbonate  of  lime,  or  chalk.  So  that  a  person 
carries  about  with  him,  every  day,  from  four 
to  six  pounds  of  lime  ;  perhaps  more. 

The  great  purpose  which  the  Creator  doubt- 
less had  in  view,  in  giving  us  such  a  frame- 
work of  strong  bones  was,  that  it  might  support 
the  soft  and  fleshy  parts.  Suppose,  now,  that 
there  were  no  bones ;  and  that  the  whole  body 
\vas  a  mass  of  flesh.  Would  not  the  legs  bend 


MATERIAL    OF    THE    FRAME.  45 

about,  and  finally  be  crushed  down,  under  the 
great  weight  of  the  body  ?  Most  certainly 
they  would. 

But  there  are  several  other  important  uses 
of  bones,  which  might  be  mentioned.  Some 
of  them  you  would  not  understand  very  well, 
however,  till  you  know  more  about  muscles 
and  tendons.  I  will,  therefore,  omit  them. 

GROWTH  OF  BONE. — We  are  not  born  with 
the  bones  as  hard  as  they  are  after  we  begin 
to  walk  and  run  about.  At  first,  many  of 
them  are  very  soft ;  and  a  large  number  are  in 
several  pieces,  with  cartilage  or  gristle  between 
them.  After  a  few  years,  they  grow  firmly 
together.  The  bones  of  the  head,  in  particu- 
lar, are  at  first  separate;  and,  without  doing 
any  mischief  to  the  soft  brain  within,  will  move 
a  little.  But  after  we  become  older,  and  the 
whole  skull  becomes  firm,  it  would  require  a 
very  considerable  force  to  move  them  ;  and 
the  consequences  of  moving  them  would  be 
dangerous. 

There  is  undoubtedly  life,  as  it  is  often 
called,  (though  we  hardly  know  what  life  is,) 
in  bones ;  but  while  we  are  well,  there  is  not 


46  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

much  feeling  in  them  ;  and  when  the  surgeon 
amputates  or  saws  off  a  limb,  the  sawing  of 
the  bone  does  not  cause  much  pain,  till  he 
comes  to  the  marrow. 

VESSELS  IN  BONES. — There  are  also  many 
blood-vessels  and  nerves  running  about  in  small 
holes  in  the  bones ;  and  wherever  there  are 
nerves,  there  is  life.  But  if  this  does  not  show 
that  there  is  life  in  the  bones,  there  is  another 
thing  which  I  think  will  satisfy  you  of  the  fact. 

In  some  diseases  of  -the  bones,  they  are  as 
sore  and  painful  as  the  flesh  can  be.  Could 
you  make  a  piece  of  dry  wood,  or  even  a  dry 
bone,  sore  or  painful  ?  Certainly  not.  Then 
must  there  not  be  life  in  the  bones  of  the  living 
person  ? 

We  are  now  prepared,  I  think,  to  proceed 
with  our  studies  on  the  frame-work  of  the 
house. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


SILLS  OF  THE  HOUSE. 

Situation  of  the   Hip   Bones.       Structure. 
The  Hip  Joint.     An.  Abuse. 

You  well  know,  I  suppose,  that  after  the 
foundation  of  a  common  building — say  a  dwel- 
ling house — is  well  prepared  and  made  level, 
they  lay  on  large  sticks  of  timber,  called  sills. 
On  these  sills  they  place  the  body  or  principal 
portion  of  the  building,  and  by  means  of  joints 
fasten  it  at  the  corners,  as  well  as  at  other 
places. 

SITUATION  or  THE  HIP  BONES. — The  sills 
of  the  house  I  live,  in  consist  of  two  large 
irregular  bones,  placed  at  the  top  of  what  I 
have  called,  for  convenience'  sake,  the  pillars. 
These  two  large  bones  are  very  firm  and 
strong.  You  will  find  so  much  difficulty  in 


48  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

understanding  my  explanations  of  their  shape 
without  it,  that  I  will  show  you  a  picture  of 
them. 


These  bones  are  called  in  books  the  ossa 
innominata.  Os  is  a  Latin  word  for  bone  ; 
and  ossa  is  its  plural,  meaning  more  bones  than 
one.  Innominata  means  without  a  name,  or 
nameless  ;  but  the  very  word  innominata  makes 
a  tolerable  name,  though  rather  long.  So  if  a 
very  young  child,  found  in  the  streets,  whom 
nobody  knew,  should  be  called  Peter  Name- 
less, that  word  nameless  would  answer  all  pur- 
poses. 

STRUCTURE. — I  have  said  that  the  ossa  in- 
nominata were  very  firm  and  strong.  They 
are  so  in  grown  persons — but  in  a  child  they 
are  less  so,  and  are  in  three  pieces,  each  of 
which  has  a  different  name.  They  are  joined 
together  by  a  firm  gristle  or  cartilage.  Behind, 


SILLS    OF    THE    HOUSE.  49 

however,  is  a  strong  wedge-like  bone,  between 
them.  Between  this  last  bone,  called  the  sa- 
crum, and  each  of  the  ossa  innominata,  there  is 
also  a  very  strong  gristle ;  but  it  is  not  so  thick 
or  strong  as  the  one  I  have  just  mentioned.  The 
ossa  innominata  and  sacrum  make  a  kind  of 
cup,  or  deep  bowl — open  at  the  bottom,  it  is 
true,  but  still  bowl-like  in  its  shape.  This 
bowl  is  called  the  pelvis, 

HIP  JOINT. — The  manner  of  fastening  the 
thigh  bone,  or  femur,  to  the  hollow  of  the  in- 
nominata, is  very  remarkable.  I  shall  give 
a  particular  account  of  it,  with  an  engraving, 
farther  along  in  the  book ;  so  that  a  few  words 
must  answer,  for  the  present. 

The  hollow,  where  the  femur  is  fastened,  is 
shaped  like  the  inside  of  an  egg  shell,  with  the 
small  end  broken  off.  The  round  end  of  the 
femur  is  fastened  in  this  deep  cavity,  by  a  very 
large  and  strong  cord.  The  shoulder  is  often 
dislocated,  or  slipped  out  of  its  place  ;  but  this 
hollow  is  so  deep,  and  the  cord  so  strong,  that 
nothing  but  very  great  violence  will  break  the 
cord,  or  slip  the  femur  out  of  its  place* 
5 


50  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

AN  ABUSE. — I  have  said  that  these  two 
great  bones  are  united  by  a  very  strong  carti- 
lage. This  is  true ;  but  it  is  also  true  that 
while  we  are  young,  and  even  after  we  are 
older,  if  we  have  lived  temperately,  this  carti- 
lage, which  is  very  thick,  will  stretch  or  yield 
much  more  than  you  would  at  first  suppose 
possible.  It  is  of  very  great  importance  to 
everybody- — though  much  more  so  to  some 
than  to  others — to  preserve  the  soft  and  yield- 
ing nature  of  these  cartilages  as  long  as  possi- 
ble. To  do  this,  you  must  run  about  and  play 
much  while  young  ;  not  with  violence,  but  like 
the  lamb ;  you  must  labor  moderately  every 
day,  as .  you  grow  older ;  you  must  rise  with 
the  lark,  and  go  to  bed  almost  as  early  as  the 
fowls  ;  you  must  breathe  pure  air  ;  your  drink 
must  be  water,  and  your  food  must  be  of  the 
plainest  and  purest  kinds,  and  not  in  excessive 
quantity — and  must  be  well  chewed.  Then 
may  you  hope  to  preserve  your  bones  and  car- 
tilages in  a  good  and  healthy  state  till  you  are 
quite  old.  But  some  of  these  things  will  be 
adverted  to  again  in  other  chapters. 


CHAPTER   V. 


BODY  OF  THE   HOUSE. 

Height.  The  Spine.  Each  Vertebra.  Gen- 
eral Description.  The  Ribs.  The  Breast 
Bone.  The  Collar  Bone.  The  Shoulder- 
Blade. 

HEIGHT. — Houses  consist  of  one  or  more 
stories,  according  to  the  length  of  the  posts. 
Each  story,  as  you  know,  forms  a  separate  row 
or  tier  of  rooms.  The  best  houses  are  those 
with  fewest  stories. 

But  most  people  prefer,  if  they  are  able,  to 
have  at  least  two  stories — some  three.  In 
cities,  where  land  is  very  costly,  they  some- 
times have  them  four,  five,  seven,  ten  and  even 
eleven  stories  high.  Four  stories  in  our  large 
cities  is  very  common.  A  house  ten  stories  high, 
accommodating  ten  rows  or  tiers  of  people,  one 
above  another,  must  be  a  curious  sight.  The 


54xJ  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

house  in  which  I   live  has  only  two   stories, 
besides  a  cupola. 

THE    SPINE. — The     principal    post the 

spine — runs  through  both  stories,  and  is  of  a 
^singular  construction.     We  usually  call  it  the 
lack-bone.     Here  is  a  representation  of  it. 


The   spine   is   composed   of    no   less   than 
twenty-four  separate  pieces  ;  each  of  which  is 


BODY    OF    THE    HOUSE.  53 

called  a  vertebra.  The  plural  of  vertebra  is 
vertebra. 

The  seven  lower  vertebrae  are  very  large 
and  strong.  These  parts  of  the  frame  are  the 
only  supporters  of  the  first  or  lower  story. 
The  twelve  next  above  them,  belonging  to  the 
second  story,  are  somewhat  smaller.  The 
seven  which  belong  to  the  neck  are  smaller 
still.  Their  size,  in  general,  decreases — not 
suddenly,  but  gradually — from  the  bottom  up- 
wards. They  are  placed  one  above  another, 
somewhat  like  tea-cups  or  saucers  inverted  and 
piled  up. 

The  spine  or  back-bone  is  not  only  curious 
in  its  shape  and  structure,  but  of  the  utmost 
importance  in  the  human  frame.  It  has  been 
sometimes  said,  that  "  if  one  member,"  in  any 
part  of  the  body,  "  suffer,  all  the  members 
suffer  with  it."  This  is  especially  true  of  the 
spine. 

EACH    VERTEBRA. — Each   vertebra   has    a 

hole  of  considerable  size  in  the   middle  of  it. 

See  6  in  the  engraving  below.      What  I  show 

you,  is  the  upper  surface  of  one  of  the  verte- 

5* 


54  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

brae.     It  is  as  if  those  above  it  were  taken  off, 
and  you  viewed  it  while  standing  over  it. 


When  the  twenty-four  vertebrae  are  placed  one 
above  another,  that  is,  are  in  their  natural  posi- 
tion, they  contain  a  long  hollow.  This  hollow  is 
filled  with  a  soft  substance,  very  much  resem- 
bling the  marrow  of  other  bones.  It  seems 
like  an  arm  or  branch  of  the  brain  ;  for  there 
is  an  open  passage  from  the  bottom  of  the  cra- 
nium, or  brain-pan,  into  the  hollow  of  the 
spine. 

GENERAL  DESCRIPTION. — When  the  verte- 
brae are  put  together,  that  is,  laid  upon  each 
other,  there  are  notches  between  each  two 
bones  at  the  sides,  so  exactly  matched  together 
#s  to  form  a  hole.  Thus  there  are  as  many 


BODY    OF    THE    HOUSE.  55 

holes  in  each  side  of  the  spine  as  there  are 
vertebrae.  Through  these  holes  large  branches 
of  the  marrow  of  the  spine  pass  off,  like  the 
branches  of  a  tree,  to  all  parts  of  the  body. 
These  branches  are  called  nerves.  At  first, 
they  are  pretty  large ;  but  they  divide  and 
subdivide,  as  they  proceed  towards  the  extremi- 
ties of  the  frame,  titt  they  become  very  small. 
Their  number,  in  all  the  soft  parts  of  the  body, 
particularly  in  the  skin,  is  very  great.  I  do 
not  know  that  they  could  be  counted. 

Those  things  which  look  like  three  arms,  by 
interlocking  with  the  bones  above  and  below 
them,  serve  as  braces  to  the  whole  spine.  At 
the  sides  are  parts  of  the  ribs  (c  e.)  These 
show  where  the  spine  and  ribs  come  together. 

Between  these  bones,  where  the  body  of  each 
(a)  rests  upon  the  other,  is  a  tough  substance 
or  gristle,  very  yielding  or  elastic,  almost  like 
India  rubber.  This  keeps  the  bones  from 
wearing  out  too  fast  when  they  move,  and  yet 
it  allows  of  their  moving  pretty  freely. 

The  spine  is,  really,  one  of  the  most  curious 
things  in  nature.  Why,  rope-dancers  and  tum- 
blers will  bend  their  heads  back  till  they  almost 
touch  their  feet,  and  bring  this  straight,  pile  of 


56  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

bones  nearly  into  the  shape  of  an  ox-bow. 
Why  does  it  not  produce  mischief  in  some 
way  ? 

The  gristle  or  cartilage  between  the  verte- 
bra? is  very  thick  and  strong,  but  at  the  same 
time  very  yielding,  like  India  rubber ;  and  it 
is  so  constructed  and  placed,  as  will  best  allow 
the  spine  to  bend  about  in  all  the  various  ways 
which  even  tumblers  and  rope-dancers  could 
wish. 

It  is  so  elastic  or  springy,  and  also  so  readily 
compressed,  that  people  who  stand  or  walk 
much,  are  really  a  little  shorter  at  night  than 
they  are  in  the  morning.  Rest  gives  the 
elastic  cartilages  time  and  opportunity  to  spring 
back  again  into  their  place,  while  we  sleep,  so 
that  by  the  next  morning  we  are  as  tall  as  ever. 

I  ought,  however,  to  say — for  it  is  a  fact — 
that  old  people  settle  down  a  little,  and  are  not 
so  tall  as  in  middle  age ;  which  is  partly  owing 
to  these  cartilages  yielding  and  yielding  till 
they  become  thinner. 

If  the  soft  marrow  of  the  spine,  (which  runs 
down  from  the  brain,)  should  happen  to  be 
bruised  or  injured,  there  would  be  an  end  of  all 


BODY    OF    THE    HOUSE.  57 

motion,  at  least  of  the  lower  limbs.  If  the 
spine  gets  broken,  it  cannot  be  mended,  and 
the  sufferer  will  never  wholly  recover.  How 
happy,  then,  that  it  is  so  contrived,  as  rarely  to 
be  broken,  or  dislocated  ! 

The  other  and  shorter  posts  of  the  "  house" 
will  be  mentioned  presently. 

We  are  ready,  now,  to  study  the  frame  of 
the  upper  or  second  story  of  the  building.  It 
consists  of  a  much  greater  number  and  variety 
of  parts  than  the  frame  of  the  first  story. 

THE  RIBS. — The  ribs  may  be  compared  to 
the  girts  of  a  building ;  though  they  look  more 
like  the  hoops  of  a  cask  than  like  girts.  There 
are  twelve  of  them  on  each  side.  Each  of 
them  is  connected,  by  one  of  its  ends,  to  the 
large  post,  or  spine ;  and,  by  the  other,  to  a 
shorter  post — the  breast  bone.  Only  seven, 
however,  are  joined  closely  to  the  breast  bone 
itself.  The  other  five  go  a  part  of  the  way 
across ;  the  rest  of  the  way  they  are  formed  of 
gristle  or  cartilage.  The  former  are  sometimes 
called  the  true  ribs  ;  the  latter,  the  false  ones. 
Here  is  a  view  of  this  part  of  the  frame. 


58 


THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 


The  length  of  the  ribs  increases  from  the 
first  or  upper  one,  till  you  come  to  the  seventh, 
which  is  the  longest.  From  the  seventh  to 
the  twelfth,  they  grow  shorter  again,  and  the 
cartilages,  of  course,  become  longer  in  the  same 
proportion.  The  twelfth  rib  is  very  short. 

The  number  of  ribs  is  almost  always  twelve  ; 
but  sometimes  there  are  only  eleven,  and  at 
others,  thirteen.  But  instances  of  more  or  less 


BODY    OF    THE    HOUSE.  59 

than  twelve  do  not  probably  occur  in  one  person 
in  a  thousand. 

There  is  a  notion  prevailing  in  some  parts 
of  the  world — I  know  not  how  it  was  first 
started — that  man  has  one  rib  less  on  one  side 
than  on  the  other.  They  say  that  as  Eve  was 
formed  of  a  rib  taken  from  Adam's  side,  he 
and  all  his  male  posterity  have  one  rib  the  less 
for  it.  I  hardly  need  to  say  that  this  opinion 
is  wholly  unfounded. 

BREAST  BONE. — I  have  just  alluded  to  the 
breast  bone.  The  name  of  this,  in  books,  is 
the  sternum.  It  has  been  usually  considered 
as  only  one  bone ;  but,  like  many  others  of  the 
human  frame,  in  infancy  and  youth  it  consists 
of  several  pieces  (three  in  number)  closely 
united  by  gristle  or  cartilage  ;  but  in  advanced 
life,  the  whole  usually  becomes  one  solid  bone. 
Long  continued  boiling,  however,  will  separate 
almost  any  of  the  bones  which  are  formed  in 
this  manner. 

There  are  a  few  other  parts  of  the  frame  of 
the  second  story  which  remain  to  be  noticed, 
and  which  I  will  call  the  braces.  They  are 
four  in  number — two  before,  and  two  behind. 


60  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

The  braces  here  alluded  to  are, 

1.  The   Collar  Bone.— This  forms  a  kind 
of  brace  between  the  shoulder  and  the  breast 
bone,  and  so  nearly  resembles  a  rib,  that  a 
separate  cut,  to  show  its  shape  and  position, 
seems  unnecessary.     You  will  see  it  in  two  or 
three  of  the  engravings,  running  across  from  the 
shoulder  to  the  breast  bone  or  sternum. 

2.  The  Shoulder-Blade.— This  is  a  broad, 
flat  bone,  with  ridges  on  it ;   and,  at  the  fore 
part,  is  the  hollow,  or  socket,  in  which  tKe 
round  head  or  ball  of  the  humerus  or  arm-bone 
lies  and  moves.     Here  is  a  view  of  it  behind. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

BODY  OF  THE  HOUSE— CONTINUED. 

The  Arms.     The  Hand.     Uses  of  the  Hand. 

ARMS. — These  are  not  posts,  for,  in  their 
natural  position,  they  support  nothing.  They 
are  not  braces,  for  they  strengthen  no  part  of 
the  frame.  They  are  properly  appendages, 
but  they  are  very  convenient  ones ;  and  though 
they  can  be  torn  off  without  spoiling  the 
building,  their  loss  very  much  injures  it.  .They 
seem  to  answer,  in  some  good  degree,  the,  pur- 
poses of  stairs,  ladders,  tackles,  pulleys,  and 
other  machinery  for  raising  things  from  the 
ground,  and  conveying  them  to  the  upper  part 
of  a  building.  These  appendages — we  may  as 
well  at  once  call  them  the  arms  and  hands — 
however,  answer  a  much  better  purpose  than 
any  of  those. 
6 


62  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

The  arm  and  hand,  taken  together,  consti- 
tute a  most  wonderful  apparatus  for  motion. 
The  particular  structure  of  the  joints,  as  well 
as  the  peculiarities  of  the  hand,  must  be  re- 
served for  another  place  ;  but  it  is  necessary  to 
say  a  little  about  the  arm. 

The  bones  of  the  arm  have  a  slight  resem- 

O 

blance  to  those  of  the  leg.  The  upper  part 
consists  of  only  one  bone.  This  is  long  and 
round,  and  is  called  the  humerus.  It  is  fast- 
ened above  to  the  scapula.  Below,  at  the 
elbow,  it  is  connected  to  the  two  bones  of  the 
lower  half  of  the  arm,  by  a  joint  like  a  hinge, 
and  by  ligaments  or  straps,  which  go  from  near 
the  end  of  the  upper  bone  to  the  end  of  the 
others.  The  largest  of  the  two  latter  bones  is 
called  the  ulna,  which  is  a  Latin  word  for 
cubit,  because  the  arm,  below  the  elbow,  is 
usually  considered  about  a  cubit  in  length. 
The  smaller  one  is  called  the  radius,  or  spoke, 
from  its  supposed  resemblance  to  the  spoke  of 
a  wheel. 

The  connection  at  the  shoulder  is  such,  that 
the  arm  can  be  moved  in  almost  every  con- 
ceivable direction.  The  elbow  joint  only  ad- 


BODY    OF    THE    HOUSE.  63 

mits  of  one  sort  of  motion,  viz.,  forward  and 
backward,  like  a  door  on  its  hinges.  But  the 
connection  of  the  radius,  or  smaller  bone  of  the 
arm,  with  the  ulna,  or  larger  one,  is  such  that 
it  more  than  makes  up  for  this  deficiency. 
Then  the  wrist,  consisting,  as  it  does,  of  eight 
bones,  all  movable,  and  being  so  connected 
with  the  lower  bones  of  the  arm  as  to  admit  of 
very  free  motion,  renders  the  arm  one  of  the 
most  useful  contrivances  in  the  world.  It  will 
perform  as  various  and  as  rapid  movements  as 
the  trunk  of  the  elephant ;  and  would  proba- 
bly, if  it  were  not  so  common,  excite  as  much 
surprise. 

It  was  said  that  this  whole  member  could  be 
torn  off  without  spoiling  the  building.  Ches- 
elden,  an  English  anatomist,  relates  that  a  mil- 
ler had  the  whole  arm,  shoulder-blade  and  all, 
torn  off,  and  yet  recovered.  The  great  dan- 
ger, in  such  cases,  is  from  bleeding  ;  but  torn 
blood-vessels  do  not  bleed  so  freely  as  cut  ones. 

THE  HAND. — I  wish  to  give  you  a  few 
particulars  about  the  hand.  This  extremity  of 
the  arm  is  by  far  the  most  curious  part  of  it. 


64 


THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 


Indeed,  I  do  not  know  that  there  is  a  greater 
curiosity  in  the  whole  world  than  this  same 
human  hand.  Yet  who  thinks  much  about  it  ? 
The  truth  is,  many  of  the  best,  as  well  as 
the  most  curious  objects  in  the  world,  are 
neglected  in  the  same  manner.  Think  of  the 
thousand  uses  of  water.  What  living  thing 
could  exist  without  it?  Yet  do  we  think 
much  of  all  this,  and  are  we  even  thankful  for 
so  valuable  a  gift  as  water  is  ? 


BODY    OF    THE    HOUSE.  65 

The  bones  represented  in  the  engraving  are 
those  of  the  left  hand ;  and  you  look  upon  the 
top,  or  backside  of  it.  The  foot  is  also  in- 
serted here,  but  has  been  described  in  another 
place.  See  Chap.  II. 

The  whole  hand  and  wrist  contain  twenty- 
seven  bones ;  nineteen  in  the  former,  and  eight 
in  the  latter.  The  bones  in  the  hand  have  a 
general  resemblance,  though  some  are  much 
longer  than  others.  The  four  longest,  opposite 
figure  1,  support  the  palm  of  the  hand,  and  are 
joined  at  one  end  to  the  wrist  bones,  and  at 
the  other  to  the  first  joint  of  the  fingers.  They 
are  called  the  metacarpus. 

The  bones  of  the  wrist  are  called  the  carpus. 
They  are  situated  between  the  ulna  (5)  and 
radius  (6)  on  the  one  side,  and  the  metacarpal 
bones  and  the  first  bone  of  the  thumb  on  the 
other.  They  are  wedged  together,  like  the 
stones  of  a  pavement,  only  not  quite  so  firmly. 

The  first  four  bones  of  the  fingers,  opposite 
figure  2,  are  the  longest.  Those  opposite  3 
are  shorter ;  the  last,  or  those  marked  4,  are 
shorter  still.  The  thumb  has  one  bone  less 
than  the  fingers.  All  the  joints  of  the  hand — 
6* 


66  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

and  there  are  fourteen,  besides  the  wrist — are 
hinge  joints,  and  the  ends  of  the  bones  are 
made  a  little  like  door  hinges.  Of  course 
they  only  bend  in  one  direction.  Where  the 
fingers  join  to  the  metacarpal  bones,  there  is 
much  more  freedom  of  motion  than  at  the 
hinge-like  finger  joints.  But  the  joint  at  the 
wrist  admits  of  motion,  very  freely,  in  every 
direction. 

When  the  bones  of  the  hand  are  not  quite 
so  naked  as  they  appear  in  the  engraving,  but 
are  dressed  up  with  muscles,  tendons,  mem- 
branes, nerves,  arteries  and  veins,  and  covered 
with  skin,  nails,  &c.,  in  a  manner  which  I 
cannot  now  fully  describe,  the  whole  presents 
a  most  beautiful  appearance.  Beautiful  and 
useful  as  it  is,  however,  and  placed  before  our 
eyes  from  the  time  we  see  the  light  till  we 
sleep  in  death,  there  are  few  things  in  the 
whole  visible  world,  of  which  not  only  chil- 
dren, but  adults,  are  so  ignorant ! 

So  important  is  the  human  hand,  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  system,  that  Dr.  Bell's  Bridgewater 
Treatise — a  pretty  large  volume — is  wholly  de- 
voted to  a  description  of  it.  The  reader  will 


BODY    OF    THE    HOUSE.  67 

pardon  me  if  I  make,  in  this  place,  a  short  ex- 
tract from  that  admirable  work. 

"  The  difference  in  the  length  of  the  fingers 
serves  a  thousand  purposes,  adapting  the  hand 
and  fingers,  as  in  holding  a  rod,  a  switch,  a 
sword,  a  hammer,  a  pen  or  pencil,  engraving 
tool,  &c.,  in  all  which  a  secure  hold  and  free- 
dom of  motion  are  admirably  combined.  No- 
thing is  more  remarkable  than  the  manner  in 
which  the  delicate  and  moving  apparatus  of 
the  palm  and  fingers  is  guarded.  The  power 
with  which  the  hand  grasps,  as  when  a  sailor 
lays  hold  to  raise  his  body  to  the  rigging, 
would  be  too  great  for  the  texture  of  mere 
tendons,  nerves  and  vessels  ;  they  would  be 
crushed,  were  not  every  part  that  bears  the 
pressure  defended  with  a  cushion  of  fat,  as 
elastic  as  that  which  we  have  described  in  the 
foot  of  the  horse  and  the  camel.  To  add  to 
this,  there  is  a  muscle  which  runs  across  the 
palm  of  the  hand,  and  supports  the  cushion 
on  the  -inner  edge.  It  is  this  muscle  which, 
raising  the  inner  edge  of  the  palm,  forms  the 
drinking  cup  of  Diogenes." 


68  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

USES  or  THE  HAND. — Small  as  this  mem- 
ber of  the  frame  is,  it  is  a  part  of  the  utmost 
consequence.  Even  if  the  house  the  soul  lives 
in  were  a  palace,  or  had  cost  as  much  as 
St.  Peter's  church  at  Rome,  or  the  Pyramids 
of  Egypt,  it  would  be  of  very  little  use  with- 
out it.  And  if  all  such  houses  in  the  world 
were  without  it,  neither  those  houses,  nor  any- 
thing else,  would  long  be  worth  much.  The 
farmer  could  not  sow  his  grain,  or  plant  his 
corn,  or  weed  or  hoe  it  while  growing,  or  col- 
lect it  when  ripe.  Nor,  if  it  were  grown, 
could  the  miller  grind  it,  or  the  baker  make  it 
into  bread.  Neither  could  we  raise  anything 
else  to  eat  in  its  stead.  We  might  get  along 
a  few  years  with  what  is  already  raised ;  but 
what  then  ?  The  fruits  and  roots  and  nuts 
which  grow  without  cultivation — I  mean  with- 
out our  labor — would  not  last  us  and  the  thou- 
sands of  beasts  and  birds  which  feed  on  them, 
very  long. 

Do  you  say  that  if  we  could  get  nothing 
else  to  eat,  we  should  then  have  a  good  right 
to  kill  and  eat  animals  ?  But  we  could  not 
get  them.  How  could  we  ? 


BODY    OF    THE    HOUSE.  69 

Besides  all  this,  the  tailor  could  not  make 
us  clothes,  nor  the  hatter  and  milliner  hats  and 
bonnets,  nor  the  shoemaker  boots  and  shoes. 
When  those  which  we  have  by  us  already 
made  were  worn  out,  we  should  be  obliged  to 
go  naked,  summer  and  winter,  in  all  climates ; 
for  we  could  not  get  even  the  skins  of  animals. 

Then  again,  we  could  not  write  to  other 
parts  of  the  country  for  help,  even  if  there 
were  any  body  to  help  us.  Neither  could  the 
mariner  seek  a  cargo  of  food  in  other  countries ; 
for  he  could  not  spread  his  sails,  or  hold  the 
helm  of  his  vessel.  In  short,  we  could  do 
nothing  long,  to  any  purpose ;  but  after  gazing 
awhile  upon  each  other's  starving  and  ema- 
ciated frames,  we  should  all  lie  together  in  one 
common  tomb — and  that  tomb  would  be  the 
surface  of  the  earth,  arched  over  with  the  blue 
canopy  of  the  heavens ;  for  nobody  could  be 
buried. 

Some  of  you  may  think  this  representation 
of  the  sad  case  we  should  be  in  rather  exag- 
gerated. "We  should  not  be  such  helpless 
creatures,"  you  may  perhaps  say.  "Why, 


70  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    Ilf. 

there  is  a  story  I  have  seen,  about  a  French 
woman,  who  was  destitute  of  this  instrument 
and  some  others,  and  yet  she  could  do  a  great 
many  sorts  of  work,  and  even  write,  draw  and 
sew"  Yes,  and  the  story  was  undoubtedly 
true.  I  have  heard  stories  like  it  before.  I 
have  heard  of  a  man,  in  the  same  condition, 
who  could  write  with  his  breast.  His  pen 
was  fastened  to  a  girdle,  and  then  he  could  dip 
it  in  the  ink,  and  write  very  well  with  it. 

But  you  should  remember  that  these  persons 
could  not  make  the  pens  and  pencils  to  write 
and  draw  with,  or  the  needles  to  sew  with. 
Nor  could  the  man  have  placed  the  pen  in  his 
girdle.  And  there  are  a  thousand  other  neces- 
sary things  which  they  could  not  do.  Now  if 
everybody  was  like  those  persons,  the  whole 
world  would  perish  in  fifty  years,  if  not  long 
before. 

The  human  tongue  is  spoken  of  by  an  in- 
spired writer  as  being  a  "  little  member,"  yet 
boasting  great  things.  So  this  small  member 
of  the  frame  which  we  are  talking  of  is  a  "  lit- 
tle" affair,  but  great  things  depend  upon  it. 


BODY    OF    THE    HOUSE.  71 

It  is  a  sort  of  connecting  link,  that,  if  used, 
serves  to  bind  the  human  soul  to  the  habitation 
it  occupies,  for  a  few  years — seldom  more 
than  a  hundred.  Without  it,  or  neglecting  to 
use  it,  our  lives,  as  a  race,  must  soon  termi- 
nate. "He  that  would  not  work,  neither 
should  he  eat,"  is  a  divine  law ;  and  we 
could  not  work  much  without  this  little  instru- 
ment. 


CHAPTER    VII. 


THE  CUPOLA. 


The  Cranium.  The  Teeth.  Growth  of  the 
Teeth.  Structure  of  the  Teeth.  Uses  of 
the  Teeth.  Bones  of  the  Ear.  Bone  of 
the  Throat. 


WE  come  now  to  the  cupola.  The  frame 
of  this  rests  on  the  top  of  the  great  post.  I 
have  already  told  you  that  seven  of  the  twen- 
ty-four pieces  which  go  to  make  that  post  are 
situated  above  the  second  story  of  the  building. 
Some  of  them  you  can  just  see  in  the  pic- 


THE    CUPOLA.  73 

ture  ;  but  the  others  are  omitted.  You  see, 
also,  the  places  for  the  doors  and  windows. 

I  must  stop  here  long  enough  to  say  that — 
unlike  what  is  seen  in  almost  all  ordinary 
dwellings — the  doors  and  windows  of  the 
house  I  live  in  are  in  the  cupola :  there  is 
not  one  door  in  either  the  first  or  second  story. 
The  windows,  and  some  of  the  doors,  are 
placed  in  front— the  rest  of  the  doors  at  the 
sides.  The  doors  and  windows  themselves, 
as  you  know,  properly  belong  to  the  covering. 
They  will  therefore  be  described  under  that 
head. 

I  have  called  the  mouth  and  ears  and  nos- 
trils doors,  to  keep  up  the  figure  ;  and  also, 
because  these  are,  in  fact,  the  principal  ave- 
nues to  the  human  soul,  except  the  eyes ;  but 
these  may,  with  the  greatest  propriety,  be  re- 
garded as  windows.  All  sound,  smell,  taste, 
&c.  come  to  us  through  these  passages,  and 
the  machinery  or  organs  near  and  within  them. 
Why  then  may  they  not  properly  be  called 
doors  ? 

THE  CRANIUM. — At  the  beginning  of  this 
chapter,  I  showed  you  a  picture  of  the  bones  of 
7 


74  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

thfe  whole  head.  Now  if  the  bones  of  the  face 
and  neck  were  taken  quite  away,  and  nothing 
left  but  the  hollow  brain-case,  (cranium,)  the 
appearance  would  be  very  different.  Here  is 
a  front  view  of  a  skull  from  which  the  bones 
below  have  been  thus  removed. 


You  see,  in  front,  the  top  of  the  cavity  or 
socket  for  each  of  the  two  eyes  ;  and  on  one 
side,  the  place  where  the  ear  should  be  in  the 
living  person.  This  brain-case  is  composed  of 
eight  bones,  most  of  which  are  closely  united 
by  a  rough  edge,  like  that  of  a  saw,  the  notches 
of  which  shut  into  each  other  as  exactly  as  saw 
teeth  would,  and  form  what  a  tailor  would  call 
seams.  These  seams  are  by  anatomists  called 
sutures. 

One  of  the  most  important  bones  of  the 
skull,  or  brain-pan,  is  that  which  stretches 


THE    CUPOLA.  75 

across  the  whole  forehead,  and  is  called  the  os 
frontis,  or  frontal  bone.  Another,  across  the 
backside  of  the  head,  and  shaped  thus,  A,  is 
the  05  occipitis.  Its  sharp  top  reaches  to  the 
crown  of  the  head.  Another  piece,  shaped 
a  little  like  a  clam  shell,  lies  around  each  ear. 
It  is  the  05  temporis.  There  are,  of  course, 
two  of  these.  On  the  top  of  the  head,  sur- 
rounded by  those  already  described,  are  the 
two  parietal  bones.  Surrounded  by  them  all, 
in  the  bottom  of  the  skull,  is  a  large  bone,  the 
05  sphenoides,  and  a  small  one,  the  05  ethmoi- 
des. 

Now,  as  I  shall  hereafter  show  you  more 
fully,  this  whole  space  is  filled  up  with  brain. 
In  an  adult,  the  brain  weighs  from  two  and  a 
half  to  three  and  a  quarter  pounds  ;  or  it  mea- 
sures one  quart  or  nearly.  In  a  few  instances, 
it  has  been  found  somewhat  larger. 

THE  TEETH. — Around  one  of  the  doors  of 
the  cupola  is  a  most  remarkable  arrangement, 
which  deserves  a  particular  description.  There 
is  a  slight  resemblance,  here,  to  one  Idnd  of 
wheels,  with  their  component  parts,  or  cogs. 


76  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

N 

There  are,  however,  no  wheels  here.  There 
is  indeed  something  like  a  mill,  and  it  performs 
some  grinding ;  but  the  motion  by  which  this 
grinding  is  performed  is  much  like  that  of  a 
pestle  in  a  mortar.  One  of  the  segments  of  a 
wheel,  with  its  cogs,  stands  still  during  the 
operation,  while  the  other  moves  up  and  down 
upon  it,  and  breaks  in  pieces  the  substances 
which  come  between.  It  also  slides  a  little  to 
the  right  and  left,  on  the  other,  and  thus  per- 
forms its  grinding  process. 

Look  now  at  the  engraving.  This  repre- 
sents the  left  side  of  the  bones  of  the  human 
face,  as  it  would  appear  if  the  outside  of  both 
the  upper  and  lower  jaw  were  split  off. 


THE    CUPOLA.  77 

When  the  number  of  teeth  is  complete,  in 
an  adult,  and  none  have  been  lost,  or  drawn 
out,  each  jaw  contains  sixteen  ;  and  both,  of 
course,  thirty-two.  In  the  engraving,  you  see 
there  are  eight  teeth  above  and  eight  below ; 
that  is,  just  half  of  the  whole.  Children  have 
but  twenty  at  first,  or  ten  in  each  jaw.  These 
twenty  are  sometimes  called  the  milk  teeth, 
because  they  appear  while  the  child's  principal 
food  is  milk.  These  they  shed,  between  the 
ages  of  seven  and  fourteen  years  ;  and  thirty- 
two  new  ones  grow  in  their  place. 

There  is  a  period  in  every  child's  life — say 
at  about  the  age  of  six  years — when,  if  it  have 
not  yet  begun  to  shed  its  first  set  of  teeth, 
there  are  forty-eight  in  both  jaws  ;  twenty  in 
sight,  and  twenty-eight  beneath  them,  lying 
deep  in  the  jaws,  at  their  roots. 

When  you  look  at  the  jaw-bone  of  man,  or 
any  other  animal,  however,  you  do  not  see  the 
roots  or  fangs  of  the  teeth.  They  are  encased 
or  buried  deep  in  the  jaw.  Those  in  front 
have  only  one  root  each ;  the  grinders,  or 
double  teeth,  have  two,  and  sometimes  more. 


78  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

There  are  four  kinds  of  teeth  in  each  jaw, 
viz.,  four  front  teeth,  two  canine  teeth,  called 
also  eye  teeth,  four  small  grinders,  and  six 
large  grinders.  Of  these,  half  are  of  course 
on  each  side. 

The  fore  teeth  and  eye  teeth  have  but  one 
root  each.  The  small  grinders  do  not  often 
have  more  than  one,  but  they  are  usually  in- 
dented lengthwise,  so  as  to  give  the  appearance 
of  two.  The  large  grinders  of  the  lower  jaw 
have  two  roots,  and  those  of  the  upper  have 
three — two  before,  and  one  behind,  or  on  the 
inside. 

Who  does  not  admire  a  good  set  of  teeth  ? 
With  some  people,  they  are  one  of  the  princi- 
pal marks  of  beauty.  But  they  are  useful,  as 
well  as  handsome,  as  long  as  they  remain 
sound.  The  teeth  of  some  persons  remain 
sound  and  beautiful  all  their  days.  Would  you 
like  to  have  yours  do  so  ?  Let  us  then  attend 
to  the  following  particular  account  of  them ; 
and  perhaps  when  we  know  their  nature  and 
structure  better,  we  may  better  know  how  to 
take  care  of  them. 


THE    CUPOLA.  79 

Like  the  rest  of  the  bones,  the  teeth  consist 
principally  of  earthy  substance — I  mean  lime. 
But  at  first,  we  can  hardly  be  said  to  have 
bones  in  us  of  any  kind.  Some  have  begun  to 
be  a  little  solid,  others  have  not.  Where  the 
bones  afterwards  are,  we  find  a  piece  or  lump 
of  something  which  is  nearly  transparent,  and 
more  like  jelly  than  bone.  This  in  time  ossi- 
fies, that  is,  becomes  solid  ;  and  forms  bone, 

GROWTH  OF  THE  TEETH. — The  teeth,  as 
well  as  the  other  bones,  are  at  first  pieces  of 
jelly.  They  do  not  appear  at  birth,  for  they 
are  in  the  jaw-bone.  And  what  may  seem 
strange  to  you,  the  lumps  of  jelly-like  substance 
which  make  both  sets  of  teeth,  (those  which 
are  shed  early  and  also  those  which  come  after- 
wards in  their  place,)  are  there  ;  one  near  the 
edge  of  the  jaw-bone,  and  the  other  a  little 
deeper  within  it. 

It  will  greatly  help  you  in  understanding  me, 
if  you  will  examine  the  following  engraving. 
It  shows  the  teeth  as  they  appear  in  a  child, 
before  he  has  shed  many  of  the  first  set. 


80 


THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE     IN. 


When  the  soft  pieces  of  jelly  which  form 
the  teeth  become  lone,  the  process  is  as  fol- 
lows : — First,  a  hard  speck  commences  in  the 
centre  of  a  tooth,  and  this  gradually  grows 
larger  till  all  the  jelly  is  gone,  and  its  place  is 
taken  up  by  bone. 

The  teeth,  however,  consist  of  something 
else  besides  solid  bone.  If  they  did  not,  they 
would  very  soon  wear  out.  Do  you  think  a 
piece  of  common  bone,  put  in  place  of  a  tooth, 
would  last  us  to  chew  with  half  a  century  or 
more  ?  By  no  means.  "  But  what  then  ?  " 
you  will  say.  T  will  tell  you. 


THE    CUPOLA.  81 

STRUCTURE  OF  THE  TEETH. — Each  tooth 
consists  of  three  parts — the  crown,  the  neck, 
and  the  fang.  The  fang  or  root  is  the  part 
which  is  set  firmly  in  the  jaw-bone,  as  if  it 
were  driven  in  like  a  nail.  The  neck  is  close 
to  the  edge  of  the  jaw,  where  the  thin  skin  or 
membrane  which  covers  the  jaw-bone  joins  to 
the  tooth  and  adheres  to  it.  (It  is  this  mem- 
brane which  the  dentist  separates  from  the 
tooth  with  his  lancet,  when  he  is  going  to 
extract  it.)  The  tooth  is  a  little  smaller  here, 
like  a  neck,  or  as  if  a  cord  had  been  tied 
tightly  around,  and  indented  it.  The  crown 
or  body  of  the  tooth  is  that  part  which  we  see 
above  the  gum.  Every  tooth  has  blood,  and 
feeling  in  it ;  but  of  this  I  cannot  tell  you  the 
particulars  now.  You  will  find  more  about  it 
in  another  chapter. 

Now  to  prevent  the  teeth  from  wearing  out, 
as  a  piece  of  common  bone  would,  this  crown 
is  coated  all  over  with  something  much  harder 
than  any  bone  in  the  human  body.  It  is 
called  enamel. 

USES  OF  THE  TEETH. — Hard  as  it  is,  how- 
ever, enamel  will  wear  out  in  time.  It  will 


82  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

wear  out  much  sooner  for  picking  the  teeth, 
as  many  do,  with  pins  and  needles.  These 
things  are  too  hard,  even  for  the  hard  enamel, 
and  are  apt  to  crumble  it  off.  So  is  the 
wretched  practice  of  cracking  nuts  with  the 
teeth,  or  indeed  the  biting  of  any  substance 
harder  than  the  crust  of  good  dry  bread.  If 
used  to  bite  nothing  harder  than  that,  and  if 
not  injured  in  .any  other  way — for  there  are  a 
thousand  ways  of  injuring  the  teeth — they  may 
perhaps  last  all  our  lives.  But  if  the  enamel 
once  gets  broken  away,  so  that  the  air  and 
other  substances  come  to  the  softer  bone  under 
it,  the  tooth  soon  becomes  hollow,  or  decays. 
Like  any  other  part  of  this  wonderful  frame 
which  God  has  given  us,  the  teeth  will,  how- 
ever, last  the  longer  for  being  moderately  used. 

Those  kinds  of  food  and  drink  which  injure 
the  stomach,  injure  also  the  teeth,  and  cause 
the  enamel  to  become  soft  and  break  away. 
Why  this  is  so,  is  a  question  which  it  would 
take  too  long  to  answer  here  ;  but  you  may 
believe  the  fact.  In  another  place,  I  shall 
probably  say  more  on  this  subject. 

One  thing,  however,  now.  You  should 
keep  your  teeth  clean.  After  eating  anything, 


THE    CUPOLA.  83 

always  rinse  them  well.  And  if  you  rub  them 
with  a  soft  brush  several  times  a  day,  it  may 
do  some  good  in  the  way  of  preserving  them. 

BONES  or  THE  EAR. — About  three  quarters 
of  an  inch  within  each  of  the  two  side  doors  of 
the  cupola — the  ears — is  a  film  or  membrane 
drawn  tightly  across  the  passage,  like  a  drum 
head.  This  is  called  the  membrane  of  the 
tympanum — tympanum  being  the  Latin  word 
for  drum ;  and  a  cavity  behind  the  membrane 
is,  of  itself,  called  the  tympanum. 


In  this  latter  cavity  are  four  small  bones. 
For  what  purpose  they  were  intended  by  the 
great  Creator,  we  do  not  know;  but  they 
are  undoubtedly  somehow  concerned  with  the 
sense  of  hearing.  Sounds  reach  the  brain 
through  the  passage  of  the  ear ;  and  if  there 


84  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

were  no  ear,  we  should  hear  no  sound.  HE 
who  made  the  ear  for  sound,  doubtless  made 
all  parts  of  it.  And  there  is  good  reason  to 
believe  that  every  part  of  it  is  useful. 

The  bone  at  a  is  called  the  malleus,  because 
it  has  been  supposed  to  resemble  a  mallet  or 
hammer;  but  it  looks  as  much  like  a  crooked 
club,  with  a  branch  sticking  out  from  it,  as  like 
either.  It  is  close  to  the  tympanum,  and 
touches  it. 

The  incus,  or  anvil  (&,)  is  the  next.  I 
think  it  looks  as  much  like  one  of  the  smaller 
double  teeth  as  like  an  anvil. 

A  little  farther  on  is  the  little  ring,  (c.)  It 
is  very  small,  and  seems  to  connect  the  incus 
to  the  stirrup.  Anatomists,  however,  do  not 
call  it  a  ring.  They  call  it  by  the  hard  name 
of  os  orbiculare.  Os  means  bone,  and  orbicu- 
lare  means  ring-shaped. 

The  stapes,  or  stirrup,  (d,)  you  cannot  help 
knowing  by  its  shape.  It  is  the  farthest  within 
the  head. 

This  little  chain  of  bones  is  stretched  along 
m  the  passage  from  the  outside  towards  the  in- 
side of  the  head,  beginning  at  the  tympanum, 


THE    CUPOLA.  85 

and  ending  at  a  small  opening  at  a  considerable 
distance  within  the  head.  They  stand  in  the 
engraving  nearly  as  they  do  in  the  right  ear  of 
a  person,  with  the  malleus  outward,  and  the 
stapes  inward  towards  the  brain. 

BONE  OF  THE  THROAT. — It  is  proper  to 
mention,  in  this  connection,  that  there  is  a 
curious  little  bone  inside  of  the  neck,  near  the 
root  of  the  tongue,  called  the  hyoides,  or  os 
hyoides.  This  little  member  has  been  sup- 
posed to  resemble  the  Greek  letter  v,  but  it 
appears  to  resemble  our  own  letter  u  nearly 
as  much.  You  will  examine  it  for  yourselves. 


This  bone  has  something  to  do  with  keeping 
in  their  proper  places  the  parts  of  the  body 
which  are  concerned  in  speaking,  chewing, 
swallowing,  &c. 

8 


CHAPTER    VIII. 


THE  HINGES. 

The  Hip  Joint.  Shoulder  Joint.  Elbow 
Joint.  Ligaments.  Capsules.  Wear 
of  the  Joints.  Synovia.  Abuses  of  the 
Joints. 

THE  house  I  live  in  differs  in  some  respects, 
as  you  have  already  seen,  from  many  other 
buildings.  I  will  mention  one  important  point 
more,  in  which  there  is  a  striking  difference. 

An  ordinary  building  of  wood,  brick,  or 
stone,  is  intended  to  stand  firmly.  No  part, 
except  perhaps  a  few  doors,  is  made  for  motion. 
The  ends  of  the  parts  are  usually. fitted  together 
by  square  edged  joints,  with  the  greatest  ex- 
actness. Then  to  complete  the  whole,  and 
make  the  frame  as  firm  as  possible,  girts,  studs, 
braces,  &tc.  are  added. 


THE    HINGES.  87 

There  are  indeed  a  few  parts  of  the  house  I 
occupy,  which  are  not  intended  to  move  much ; 
but  in  general  it  is  not  so.  Even  the  girts, 
braces  and  studs,  are  designed  to  regulate  and 
direct  motion,  but  not  to  prevent  it  wholly. 
And  the  joints,  instead  of  being  framed  together 
by  means  of  square  tenons  and  deep  mortices, 
and  kept  as  dry  as  possible,  are  rounded  and 
made  smooth,  and  moistened  by  a  sort  of  oil, 
to  fit  them  for  motion,  rather  than  to  hinder  it. 

There  are  indeed  a  few  joints — if  joints  they 
ought  to  be  called — which  are  firm  and  un- 
yielding. I  refer  to  the  teeth.  These,  as  we 
have  seen,  are  set  into  the  jaw  bones,  as  firmly 
as  tenons  are  into  mortices,  and  more  so. 
They  seem  to  stand  more  like  nails  or  spikes, 
when  they  are  driven  into  planks  or  timbers. 
The  bones  of  the  head,  too,  are  joined  firmly 
together  in  adults,  as  you  have  already  been 
told. 

Some  of  the  joints  of  the  human  frame  are 
real  hinges.  To  this  class  belong  the  knee 
joints,  the  joints  of  the  toes  and  fingers,  and 
those  of  the  elbow.  The  lower  jaw  may  also 
be  called  a  hinge  joint.  The  ankle  joints,  the 


88  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

joints  of  the  wrists,  and  indeed  many  others, 
sometimes  move  like  hinges,  but  they  perform 
other  and  very  different  motions  besides. 

Hip  JOINT. — But  the  most  curious  joints  in 
the  human  frame  are  what  are  called  the  ball 
and  socket  joints.  The  more  important  of 
these  are  at  the  shoulder  and  the  hip.  I  will 
show  you  a  cut  of  that  at  the  hip. 


At  a  you  see  the  deep  hollow  or  socket  in 
the  bone,  where  the  round  head  of  the  femur 


THE    HINGES.  »9 

or  thigh  bone  moves.  This  round  head  is 
drawn  back  from  the  bottom  of  the  socket  a 
little  way,  in  order  to  show  the  round  ligament 
near  a.  The  latter  is  a  very  tough,  strong 
cord,  fixed  by  one  end  at  the  bottom  of  the 
socket,  very  firmly,  and  by  the  other,  fastened 
to  the  round  head  of  the  femur.  If  it  were 
not  for  this  ligament,  this  joint  would  be  dislo- 
cated, or  slipped  out  of  its  place,  a  thousand 
times  as  often  as  it  now  is.  At  present,  this 
very  seldom  happens.  I  ought  also  to  say 
that  there  is  a  tough,  gristly  rirn  around  the 
socket  at  the  hip,  which  greatly  increases  its 
depth.  This  socket  is  called  the  acetabuhm ; 
meaning  vinegar  cup.  It  was  supposed  to 
resemble  one  kind  of  ancient  vinegar  cup,  in 
use,  I  think,  among  the  Romans. 

I  am  now  going  to  show  you  a  picture  both 
of  a  ball  and  socket  joint  and  a  hinge  joint 
— the  shoulder  and  the  elbow.  It  must  be 
confessed,  however,  that  the  hinge  joint  at 
the  elbow  is  not  quite  so  plainly  seen  as  I 
could  wish.  But  you  have  all  seen  door  hinges 
no  doubt,  and  the  principle  is  the  same.  I 
know  not  but  the  first  mechanic  that  ever 
8* 


90 


THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 


formed  a  door  hinge  took  the  idea  of  it  from 
the  hinge  joint  of  some  dead  animal.  But 
now  for  the  engraving. 


I  will  first  describe  the  joint  of  the  elbow. 
The  lower  portion  of  the  arm  is  made  up  of 
two  bones;  one  larger,  called  the  ulna,  and 
another  smaller,  called  the  radius.  The  upper 
end  of  the  smaller  bone,  d,  is  a  little  rounded, 
and  lies  against  a  smaller  hollow  in  the  other 


THE    HINGES.  91 

at  g,  to  which  it  is  tied  by  cords,  called  liga- 
ments, particularly  by  one  which  goes. round  it 
like  a  band.  The  ends  of  these  two  bones, 
thus  united,  turn  on  the  end  of  the  upper  one, 
which  is  rounded  and  fitted  for  the  purpose,  as 
you  may  see  at/.  They  are  kept  together  in 
a  living  person,  (as  indeed  all  bones  are,)  by 
broad  and  short  straps  or  cords,  called  liga- 
ments, which  grow  to  each  end  of  the  bone  a 
little  way  from  the  joint,  and  are  very  tight  and 
strong,  and  yet  not  so  tight  as  to  hinder  a 
proper  motion. 

But  a  ball  and  socket  joint  is  rather  the  most 
curious.  The  bone  which  is  represented  at 
b,  is  the  scapula,  or  shoulder-blade.  The 
hollow  place  at  e,  is  the  socket  in  which  the 
round  end  or  ball  a,  of  the  upper  bone  of  the 
arm,  (the  humerus,)  plays  freely,  when  we 
move  the  arm.  The  socket  is  so  shallow,  and 
the  ligaments  so  long,  in  order  to  enable  us  to 
make  almost  every  kind  of  motion  with  our 
arms,  that  it  is  much  more  easily  slipped  out  of 
joint,  or  dislocated,  than  the  hinge  joints  are. 
Even  the  hip  joint,  which  is  also  a  ball  and 
socket  joint,  has  a  much  deeper  socket ;  and  it 


92  THE    HOUSE    1    LIVE    IN. 

is  on  this  account,  that  we  cannot  swing  our 
legs  round  with  quite  as  much  freedom  as  we 
can  our  arms. 

But  though  the  shoulder  joint  is  pretty  easily 
dislocated,  it  is  not  so  easy  to  put  it  in  its  place 
again,  when  it  once  gets  out,  as  you  may 
imagine.  It  sometimes  requires  all  the  skill 
of  a  wise  surgeon,  and  all  the  strength  of  one 
or  two  strong  men. 

The  number  of  hinge  joints  and  other  joints 
in  the  frame  of  the  house  I  live  in  is  very 
great.  It  must  be  nearly  if  not  quite  150.  I 
do  not  think  there  are  many  frames  that  have 
more  hinges  in  them  than  the  human.  Some 
there  are,  no  doubt,  such  as  those  large  public 
houses,  boarding  houses,  &tc.  But  I  was 
thinking  only  of  those  of  ordinary  dwellings. 

You  see  the  wisdom  of  the  great  Creator 
fully  displayed  in  this  structure  and  connection 
of  the  bones.  What  if  the  joint  of  the  knee 
would  move  in  every  direction,  like  that  of  the 
shoulder?  Do  you  not  see  that  when  we 
walked,  the  legs  would  have  dangled  about 
strangely,  instead  of  moving  backwards  and 
forwards  in  one  direction  only  ?  And  is  it  not 


THE    HINGES.  93 

plain  that  we  could  never  have  stood  firmly  ? 
In  like  manner,  how  very  inconvenient  it  would 
be,  to  have  our  finger  joints  move  one  way  as 
well  as  another?  On  the  contrary,  how  con- 
fined and  cramped  would  have  been  the  mo- 
tions of  the  arm,  if  the  shoulder  had  been  like 
the  knee,  and  had  only  permitted  the  arm  to 
swing  backwards  and  forwards,  without  our 
being  able  to  carry  it  outward  from  the  body  ? 

The  builders  of  machines  have  sometimes 
made  joints  in  their  machinery  very  much  like 
the  shoulder  joint ;  but  it  is  doubtful  whether 
they  could  ever  have  contrived  them,  if  they 
had  not  first  looked  at  the  bones  of  man,  or 
some  other  animal ;  for  other  animals  have 
these  various  sorts  of  joints,  as  well  as  man. 

LIGAMENTS. — But  how  are  the  joints  held 
in  their  place  ?  For  when  we  take  up  a  bone 
which  has  lain,  perhaps  for  years,  bleaching  in 
the  sun  and  rain,  we  only  see  the  ends  smooth, 
and  some  of  them  hinge-like ;  and  if  we  take 
up  two  such  bones,  and  put  them  together, 
they  will  not  stay  in  that  condition  a  moment, 
unless  they  are  fastened  by  strings  or  wires,  or 


94  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

something  of  the  kind.  How,  then,  are  they 
kept  together  in  the  living  person?  This  is 
what  I  am  about  to  tell  you. 

They  are  held  together  by  short  and  strong 
straps,  called  ligaments.  Some  of  them,  how- 
ever, are  quite  long,  and  begin  at  a  considerable 
distance,  say  an  inch  or  two,  from  the  very  end 
of  one  bone,  and  then,  after  passing  over  the 
joint,  are  fastened  into  the  next.  The  strap  or 
ligament  does  not  adhere  or  stick  to  the  joint, 
as  it  passes  loosely  over  it,  but  is  only  fastened 
strongly,  where  it  rises,  and  where  it  is  inserted, 
as  if  it  were  nailed  to  the  bone.  The  inside, 
where,  in  crossing,  it  lies  against  or  rests  gently 
on  the  joint,  is  very  smooth ;  and  is  kept  moist 
as  well  as  smooth ;  so  that  the  joint,  in  moving, 
may  not  grate  or  wear  out. 

These  ligaments  are  white  and  shining,  but 
not  always  very  thick.  They  are  very  strong. 
Some  of  them  are  as  narrow  as  a  piece  of  tape. 
Others,  as  at  the  sides  of  the  knee,  or  the 
shoulder,  are  very  wide.  Some  cross  each 
other,  as  at  the  knee.  The  latter  are  shown 
in  the  engraving.  There  are  others  still,  that 
go  all  round  the  joint,  and  completely  shut  it 


THE    HINGES. 


95 


up.  It  is  as  if  the  ends  of  the  two  joints  were 
put  into  the  two  open  ends  of  a  short  cylinder, 
or  rather  of  a  short  bag  or  ptirse,  and  the  open 
ends  were  then  gathered  round,  and  fastened 
tightly  to  the  two  bones.  Do  you  not  see 
that,  in  this  way,  the  joint  would  be  completely 
shut  up,  as  in  a  sack  ? 


CAPSULES. — These  bags  or  sacks  are  called 
capsules.     Their  use  is  to  keep  the  joint  from 


96  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

being  easily  slipped  out  or  dislocated.  They 
are  also  intended  for  another  purpose,  scarcely 
less  important — a  purpose  which  shows .  the 
wisdom  of  the  great  Creator  in  contriving  the 
human  frame,  more  than  almost  anything  I 
know. 

The  wagoner  or  stage  driver  has  a  mix- 
ture of  tar,  or  perhaps  tar  and  oil,  some  of 
which  he  often  puts  upon  the  axle  of  his  car- 
riage, where  the  wheel  turns  upon  it.  If 
this  were  not  done,  the  axletree  would  soon 
become  very  dry,  and  the  wheel  would  wear 
it.  If  the  carriage  were  driven  very  fast,  it 
might  happen  that  it  would  take  fire ;  for  rub- 
bing dry  wood  together,  as  you  know,  will 
produce  fire.  More  than  one  stage  coach  has 
been  set  on  fire,  in  this  way,  within  a  few 
years. 

WEAR  or  THE  JOINTS. — Now  what  pre- 
vents the  joints  of  the  human  body  from  wear- 
ing out  rapidly,  in  the  same  manner,  when  we 
walk  much,  or  run  swiftly  ? 

The  Father  of  the  universe  is  the  preserver 
as  well  as  the  creator  of  this  "  wondrous 


THE    HINGES.  97 

frame."  Were  there  not  something  done  to 
keep  these  joints  oiled,  if  1  may  so  call  it,  they 
would  not  last  long.  Take  the  knee,  for  ex- 
ample ;  and  think  what  a  vast  deal  of  friction 
or  rubhing  together  of  the  end  of  the  thigh- 
bone and  of  the  two  leg  bones,  there  must  be. 

Why,  a  traveller  probably  swings  each  leg, 
in  walking,  about  1200  times  in  a  mile.  If  he 
should  travel  40  miles  a  day — and  many  travel 
more  than  this — it  would  be  48,000  times  a 
day.  If  he  should  continue  to  walk  only  30 
miles  a  day  all  the  year  except  Sundays,  he 
would,  at  the  same  rate,  swing  each  knee 
15,024,000  times. 

If  he  should  do  this  every  year,  from  the 
time  he  was  20  years  old  till  he  was  70,  or  for 
a  period  of  half  a  century,  the  number  of 
movements  would  be  751,200,000  ! 

"  A  continual  dropping,"  it  is  said,  and  it 
means  dropping  of  water,  "  will  wear  away  a 
rock."  And  the  saying,  though  old,  is  true. 
Why,  this  continued  rubbing  of  the  bones  of 
the  knee  together,  if  they  were  allowed  to  get 
dry,  would  wear  them  so  much  in  a  single  day, 
that  we  should  hear  a  grating  noise  at  every 
9 


98  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

step,  long  before  night.  And,  in  a  very  few 
days,  the  bones  would  be  completely  worn  out 
and  unfit  for  use.  I  question  if  they]  would 
last  even  a  whole  day.  Iron  or  steel,  or  even 
the  hardest  thing  you  can  think  of  in  the  world, 
would  wear  out  in  a  very  short  time.  What, 
then,  can  be  the  reason  why  the  knees  and  all 
the  other  joints  do  not  wear  out  ?  There  is  no 
place  to  put  in  tar  or  oil,  to  prevent  it. 

SYNOVIA. — I  have  said  that  many  of  the 
joints  are  completely  shut  up,  as  if  by  a  sack. 
Now  the  Author  of  the  frame  has  so  contrived 
it,  that  a  substance,  called  synovia,  which  an- 
swers all  the  purpose  of  oil  or  tar,  continually 
oozes  out  on  the  inside  of  the  ligaments  at  the 
joints,  and  keeps  the  ligaments  themselves,  and 
the  joints,  soft  and  moist.  Can  anything  be 
more  curious?  Can  anything  prove,  more 
clear! \r,  i  great  Designer,  or,  as  I  might  say,  a 
great  Master  Builder  ? 

One  thing  to  be  remembered  is  this  : — The 
syi.r  or  liquor  which  thus  oozes  out  to 
lui  rate  the  joints,  will  be  of  just  the  right 
quality  and  quantity  when  we  are  in  the  most 


THE    HINGES.  99 

perfect  health.  If  we  are  unwell,  there  may 
be  too  little  or  too  much,  or  it  may  be  too 
thick  or  too  thin.  When  we  use  food  or  drink 
that  is  too  heating  or  irritating,  it  seems  to  dry 
the  blood,  and  after  a  while,  the  synovia  will 
become  less  in  quantity  or  of  poorer  quality. 
Persons  who  use  much  spirits  or  opium,  or  eat 
improper  or  heating  food,  are  very  apt,  in  the 
end,  to  have  a  grating  in  their  knees  when  they 
stoop. 

Such  persons  often  run  to  the  " doctor"  to  in- 
quire what  the  matter  is  ;  but  tney  might  as  well 
take  care  of  themselves.  Prevention — where 
we  can  prevent  anything — is  better  than  cure. 
Those  who  live  on  a  small  quantity  of  plain 
food,  and  drink  nothing  but  water,  and  work  at 
something  steadily,  but  moderately,  rarely  have 
any  trouble  of  this  sort. 

It  has  been  said,  that  the  ligaments  hold  the 
joints  together.  They  do  ;  but  the  tendons  or 
straps,  which  go  off  from  the  ends  of  the  mus- 
cles, and  are  fastened  into  the  bone,  beyond 
the  joint,  help  greatly  to  hold  it  together. 
There  are  some  very  ingenious  contrivances  to 
keep  the  joints  firm  and  yet  movable,  which  I 
have  not  room  to  describe. 


100  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

ABUSES  OF  THE  JOINTS. — This  is  the  best 
place  in  the  book  for  speaking  of  certain  abuses 
of  the  joints.  Now  that  the  great  Creator 
made  the  joints  to  be  used,  is  proved  from  their 
curious  structure,  and  from  the  substance  pre- 
pared to  mo  sten  them  ;  but  that  they  were  not 
made  to  be  used  too  violently  is  also  proved  by 
the  fact  that  if  thus  used,  they  become  dis- 
eased. Sometimes  the  liquor  called  synovia 
dries  away  ;  in  these  cases,  we  hear  the  grating 
sound  already  mentioned  ;  at  others,  the  joints 
become  painful  or  perhaps  swell.  It  is  rather 
seldom,  however,  that  they  swell  from  mere 
walking,  if  we  walk  ever  so  much ;  but  they 
very  often  become  stiff  and  clumsy. 

One  of  the  worst  abuses  of  the  joints  is  by 
wrestling.  I  have  seen  a  great  many  famous 
wrestlers,  who,  when  they  became  old,  had 
stiff,  or  lame,  or  swelled  knees  or  hips.  They 
are  tortured  almost  to  death  with  these  com- 
plaints. Sometimes  the  physician  calls  the 
complaint  gout,  sometimes  rheumatism. 

No  doubt  people  have  both  the  gout  and  the 
rheumatism  from  other  causes  besides  wrestling, 
such  as  catching  cold,  excess  in  eating  and 


THE    HINGES.  101 

drinking,  the  use  of  spirits,  tobacco,  &c.  &c. 
But  it  often  happens  that  wrestling,  when  it 
does  not  produce  all  the  mischief,  unites  with 
other  causes  to  produce  it ;  but  sometimes  it 
does  the  whole.  In  fact  no  person  can  use  his 
joints  with  great  violence,  either  in  wrestling 
or  in  hard  labor,  without  suffering  from  it, 
especially  when  he  becomes  old,  if  he  lives  to 
see  old  age ;  which,  by  the  way,  is  not  very 
common. 


9* 


CHAPTER  IX. 


REVIEW. 

Number  of  Bones.      Skeletons.     Anatomy. 
Physiology.     Uses  of  Bones. 

NUMBER  OF  BONES. — Let  us  now  sum  up 
or  review  what  we  have  learned.  This  is 
always  important  in  the  pursuit  of  any  study. 
Some  teachers  review  every  week,  and  some 
oftener  still.  Your  parents  or  teachers,  while 
you  are  studying  this  work,  will,  I  hope,  require 
you  to  review,  at  the  end  of  every  chapter. 

The  cranium,  or  part  of  the  head  which 
holds  the  brain,  consists  of  eight  different 
bones.  There  are  fourteen  bones  of  the  face, 
besides  thirty-two  teeth.  Then  there  are  four 
very  small  bones  in  each  ear,  and  one  at  the 
root  of  the  tongue.  Thus  the  whole  head, 
above  the  neck,  contains  sixty-three.  The 


REVIEW.  J03 

neck  has  seven ;  but  as  these  form  the  upper 
part  of  the  spine,  they  are  usually  reckoned 
with  those  of  the  body. 

The  spine,  or  back  bone,  contains  twenty- 
four  pieces,  called  vertebrae ;  and  between 
these  and  the  lower  extremities  are  four  bones 
more.  There  are  twenty-four  ribs,  that  is, 
twelve  on  each  side,  and  a  breast  bone,  or 
sternum.  Thus  the  whole  of  what  we  pro- 
perly call  the  body,  has  fifty-three  bones. 

The  whole  upper  extremity,  including  the 
hand,  arm,  clavicle  or  collar  bone,  and  scapula 
or  shoulder  blade,  consists  of  thirty-two  pieces  ; 
or  sixty-four  on  both  sides. 

Each  lower  extremity  includes  thirty  bones  ; 
or  both  of  them  sixty ;  besides  the  small 
sesamoid  bones. 

Now  if  we  add  up  these  several  sums,  we 
shall  find  the  amount  two  hundred  and  forty. 
A  complete  human  skeleton,  then,  would  con- 
tain no  less  than  two  hundred  and  forty  bones ! 
Who  would  suppose  so,  from  a  mere  view  of 
an  individual,  while  in  the  act  of  standing? 
But  when  we  come  to  see  him  walking  or  in 
motion  otherwise,  we  begin  to  find  he  has  a 


104  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

great  many  joints  in  him,  and  of  course  a  great 
many  bonos.  There  is  more  or  less  of  motion, 
where  nearly  all  the  bones  of  the  frame  meet, 
if  we  except  those  of  the  cranium,  face,  teeth 
and  pelvis;  and  these  may  all  be  moved  in 
nearly  the  same  instant.  Thus  there  are,  in 
the  human  frame,  about  one  hundred  and 
eighty  joints ! 

We  ought  also  to  add  to  this  number  the 
small  sesamoid  bones,  found  in  the  thumbs  and 
great  toes  of  older  persons,  and  somewhat 
resembling  the  knee  pan  in  shape.  Of  these 
there  are  often  two  in  each  large  joint  of  the 
great  toe,  and  as  many  in  the  large  joint  of 
each  thumb.  Adding  these,  then,  to  the  two 
hundred  and  forty,  we  should  have  for  the 
whole  number  of  bones  in  the  human  frame, 
two  hundred  forty-eight. 

Some  make  the  number  about  two  hundred 
and  sixty ;  but  they  reckon  lourteen  sesamoid 
bones.  It  should  be  remembered  that  the 
number  of  the  sesamoid  bones  varies  greatly  in 
different  persons,  though  nearly  all  adults  have 
some  of  them.  They  are  hardly  ever  larger 
than  half  a  pea.  Some  individuals  have  them 


REVIEW.  105 

in  other  parts  of  the  body,  besides  those  al- 
ready mentioned. 

It  should  also  be  observed,  that  there  is  a 
small  fragment  of  something  which  is  bony  in 
its  appearance,  usually  found  in  the  very  mid- 
dle of  the  soft  part  of  the  brain.  What  the 
use  of  it  is,  nobody  knows,  except  the  Creator. 

Besides  all  this,  the  breast  bone,  the  ossa 
innominata,  and  many  other  bones  of  the 
body,  are  in  several  pieces,  while  we  are 
young ;  and  some  of  them  are  not  very  strongly 
united,  even  when  we  are  old. 

Nor  is  this  quite  all.  A  few  persons  may 
be  found,  who  have  a  still  greater  number  of 
bones;  but  these  are  properly  diseased  persons. 
A  bony  or  chalky  substance  is  often  found  in 
the  flesh  of  those  who  have  the  gout.  Some 
of  the  gristly  parts  of  the  body — I  mean  the 
cartilages  and  ligaments — occasionally  change 
into  bone ;  and  so  do  small  portions  of  the  great 
arteries  or  tubes  which  carry  the  blood.  In 
some  diseases,  too,  the  bones  separate  into 
several  pieces.  Here  and  there  we  find  a 
person  with  six  fingers  on  each  hand,  or  six 


106  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

toes  on  each  foot,  and  sometimes  with  both  ; 
but  these  supernumerary  fingers  and  toes  do 
not  always  have  bones  in  them. 

SKELETONS. — When  the  bones  of  an  animal 
are  put  together,  and  fastened  to  each  other  by 
pieces  of  wire,  the  whole  is  called  a  skeleton. 

There  is  another  kind  of  skeleton,  but  it  is 
not  so  common.  It  is  made  by  stripping  off  all 
the  soft  parts  of  the  body,  except  the  liga- 
ments ;  these  are  suffered  to  remain.  The 
whole  is  then  very  thoroughly  dried.  This 
saves  the  trouble  of  having  wires. 

The  engraving  represents  the  human  skele- 
ton fastened  together  by  wires,  in  the  usual 
manner.  It  is  represented  in  this  posture  in 
order  to  give  you  a  different  view  from  that 
opposite  the  title-page. 


REVIEW. 


107 


ANATOMY. — The  study  of  the  nature  and 
structure  of  the  bones,  and  nothing  but  the 
bones,  is  called  osteology  •  that  of  the  muscles, 


108  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

and  nothing  else,  myology,  &c.  But  as  most 
people  who  study  these,  go  farther,  and  learn 
also  the  shape  and  structure  of  the  heart,  the 
lungs,  the  brain,  the  blood-vessels,  and,  in  fact, 
all  parts  of  the  body,  some  more  general  name 
would  seem  necessary  for  what  they  do.  So- 
we  say  of  those  who  study  all  parts  of  the 
human  body  just  as  it  appears  the  moment  the 
soul  leaves  it — bones,  muscles,  tendons,  brainy 
nerves,  heart,  blood-vessels,  lungs,  skin,  &ic.7 
that  they  are  studying  Anatomy. 

PHYSIOLOGY. — Physiology  is  something  more 
than  all  this.  It  is  the  study  of  the  living  ani- 
mal ; — how  the  heart,  the  brain,  the  eye,  the 
ear,  the  muscles,  the  bones,  and  every  other 
part,  act — and  their  uses;  and  an  interesting 
study  it  is,  too.  David,  the  king,  probably 
believed  so,  when,  after  thinking  about  the  cu- 
rious structure  of  his  own  body,  he  exclaimed, 
"  I  am  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made." 

King  David,  however,  had  probably  never 
seen  a  complete  human  skeleton ;  for  in  those 
days,  it  was  generally  thought  very  wrong  to 
use  the  dead  body  of  a  human  being  for  any 
such  purpose.  But  of  late  years  many  people 


REVIEW.  109 

think  it  quite  right  to  dissect  (separate)  dead 
human  bodies,  if  by  so  doing  they  can  learn 
how  to  cure  or  prevent  diseases  of  the  living. 
Not  very  often  to  be  sure  ;  and  only  the  bodies 
of  criminals,  such  as  have  no  friends,  rela- 
tives, &c. 

In  making  this  little  book,  it  is  my  object  to 
teach  you  something  of  both  Anatomy  and 
Physiology.  I  have  yet  done  but  very  little, 
and  what  I  have  done,  has  been  chiefly  in 
Anatomy. 

The  remaining  chapters  of  this  book  will 
embrace  much  more  of  Physiology.  It  will 
consequently  be  a  little  more  difficult  to  under- 
stand it ;  but  it  will  also  be  much  more  pleas- 
ant, when  once  understood.  There  are  yet 
many  wonderful  things  to  be  known  about 
your  bodies. 

USES  OF  BONES. — Before  I  close  this  chap- 
ter, you  must  allow  me  just  to  say  that  bones 
are  often  used  in  the  arts.  Ivory  is  nothing 
but  bone — the  teeth  of  the  elephant.  The 
bones  of  man,  so  far  as  I  know,  have  not  been 
used  in  any  of  the  arts. 
10 


1  10  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

The  shells  of  many  of  the  testaceous  and 
crustaceous  animals,  are  of  very  great  value. 
Such  are  the  tortoise  shell,  the  pearl,  &c. 

The  shell  of  the  tortoise,  in  particular,  is 
exceedingly  valuable  in  the  arts.  You  will 
observe  that  these  shells  to  animals,  not  only 
serve  as  a  support  to  their  softer  parts,  but  also 
as  a  defence.  What  would  become  of  the 
tender  frame  of  the  poor  tortoise,  lobster,  crab, 
and  oyster,  if  they  were  not  covered  over,  as 
with  a  shield,  by  a  hard  buckler  of  shell?  The 
soft  parts  of  the  human  body  are,  in  many 
instances,  well  defended  by  the  solid  frame  on 
the  outside  of  them,  in  the  same  manner. 
Such  are  the  brain,  the  spinal  marrow,  the 
lungs,  the  heart,  and  the  liver. 

Now  one  principal  part  of  all  the  shells  of 
animals  is  lime.  So  that  there  is  not  so  much 
difference  between  the  bones  of  man  and  the 
shell  of  the  tortoise  or  the  lobster,  as  you  may 
have  supposed,  though  the  color  is  somewhat 
different.  A  very  large  proportion  of  the 
lobster  shell  is  lime ;  in  the  tortoise  shell  the 
proportion  is  small.  Horn  has  but  a  very  little 
lime  in  it. 


REVIEW.  Ill 

There  is  one  use  made  of  the  bones  of  the 
human  frame  which  it  is  rather  shocking  to 
think  of.  It  is  well  known  that  the  bones  of 
other  animals  make  a  very  excellent  manure 
for  enriching  the  soil ;  but  it  is  not  so  often 
understood  that  the  bones  of  men  are  used  for 
this  purpose ;  and  some  of  you,  it  may  be, 
never  heard  of  the  fact. 

You  have  read,  I  presume,  about  the  great 
battles  which  were  fought  in  Germany  and 
France  many  years  ago,  in  the  time  of  Napo- 
leon Bonaparte ;  when  thousands  of  men  were 
often  left  dead  on  the  field,  and  their  bones 
sometime  afterward  almost  covered  the  ground. 
The  Germans  have  long  used  bones  as  a 
manure,  in  their  hot  houses. 

Within  a  few  years,  these  human  bones,  it 
is  stated,  have  been  brought  to  England,  and 
ground  by  means  of  steam-engines  and  other 
powerful  machinery,  and  used  as  manure.  It 
is  computed  that  in  1832,  a  million  of  bushels 
of  bones  of  men  and  horses,  were  brought  from 
the  continent  over  to  England,  and  used  by  the 
farmers  of  Yorkshire,  Nottinghamshire,  and 
the  neighboring  counties. 


THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

In  our  own  country,  the  horrors  of  war  have 
not  usually  been  dreadful  enough  to  render 
bones  so  abundant  and  cheap  that  we  can  use 
them  in  this  way.  The  bodies  of  men  slain  in 
war,  as  well  as  those  who  have  died  in  peace, 
have,  in  general,  been  decently  buried.  May 
we  not  hope  that  our  country  will  never  be 
deluged  with  blood  and  covered  with  bones,  as 
some  of  the  countries  of  Europe  and  Asia 
have  been  ?  May  we  not  hope  that  at  our 
death,  our  bodies  will  be  buried  quietly  in  the 
usual  manner — "  ashes  "  returning  "  to  ashes," 
— "  dust  to  dust," — and  the  soul  to  the  "  God 
who  gave  it  ? " 


CHAPTER  X. 


COVERING  OF  THE  HOUSE. 

The  Periosteum.  The  Muscles.  The  Ten- 
dons. Structure  of  the  Muscles.  Action 
of  Muscles.  Illustrations.  About  Fat. 
Reflections. 

THE  covering  of  the  house  I  live  in  differs 
more  from  other  buildings — that  is,  possesses 
more  peculiarities — than  almost  any  other  part 
of  it.  In  covering  an  ordinary  wooden  build- 
ing, it  is  usual,  in  the  first  place,  to  line  the 
frame.  This  lining  is  often  but  not  always 
very  thin.  Next  to  the  lining  comes  a  cover- 
ing perhaps  of  thicker  boards ;  and  lastly,  a 
layer  of  shingles  or  clapboards.  Between  the 
latter  and  the  boards  under  them,  however, 
upon  the  crevices  or  cracks  of  the  boards,  they 
often  put  birch  bark,  or  tarred  cloth,  or  paper, 
to  keep  the  snow  and  rain  from  penetrating. 
10* 


114  THE    HOUSE    1    LIVE    IN. 

But  in  covering  the  house  I  live  in,  there  is 
a  long  process  to  go  through  with,  before  we 
come  to  anything  like  this.  I  will  attempt  to 
describe  it. 

The  habitation  of  the  soul  contains  no  sharp 
corners  or  square  edges.  Everything,  even 
the  smallest  part,  is  more  or  less  rounded.  It 
seems  as  if  the  great  Architect  regarded  round- 
ness as  a  beauty,  and  squareness  as  a  deformity. 
But  in  a  wooden  building,  and  indeed  in  those 
of  brick  and  stone,  square  sides,  square  edges, 
&c.,  appear  to  be  regarded  by  the  architect  as 
points  of  beauty.  The  sides  of  timbers,  espe- 
cially, are  left  square.  Strip  off  the  covering 
from  the  outside,  or  the  plastering  from  the 
inside,  and  you  expose  to  view,  at  once,  these 
square  sides  and  edges. 

4 

THE  PERIOSTEUM. — How  different  the 
structure  of  the  house  I  live  in  !  Every  bone 
in  the  frame,  as  if  to  prevent  the  possibility  of 
having  any  rough  sides  or  corners,  is  neatly 
covered  with  a  very  thin  gristly  substance, 
which  is  called  the  periosteum.  Peri  means 
around,  and  osteum  means  the  bone  or  bones. 


COVERING    OF    THE    HOUSE.  115 

It  is,  in  fact,  a  thin  but  tough  cartilage.  There 
is  a  plain  reason  for  this  periosteum  being  used. 
The  frames  of  houses,  &c.,  are  made  to  stand 
firmly ;  they  are  not  intended  for  motion ;  but 
the  frame,  and  almost  every  part  of  the  human 
body,  is  made  to  move.  But  where  there  is 
motion,  it  is  desirable  that  the  parts  should  be 
rounded  as  much  as  possible,  and  every  possi- 
ble pains  taken  to  prevent  friction  or  wearing. 

After  every  bone  *  is  covered  over  with  this 
thin  substance,  we  have  next  the  muscles  and 
tendons.  It  is  the  muscles  generally,  which 
give  soundness  and  beauty  to  the  human  body 
and  limbs.  A  large  number  of  them  are 
situated  on  the  bones,  especially  the  long 
bones,  but  some  are  extended  between  them. 
The  bones  are  generally  smallest  in  the  middle, 


*  Or  rather  eveiy  bone  except  the  teeth.  The 
teeth,  where  they  stand  out  of  the  gums,  are  covered 
with  enamel.  A  thin  membrane  like  the  periosteum, 
would  do  no  good,  as  it  would  soon  wear  out  in 
eating.  The  ends  of  the  bones  also,  where  they  rub 
against  each  other — I  mean  at  the  joints — are  cov- 
ered with  a  white  elastic  substance,  which  is  not 
exactly  like  the  periosteum. 


116  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

and  increase  in  size  towards  the  extremities,  at 
the  joints ;  but  tbe  muscles  are  usually  the 
reverse  of  this.  They  are  largest  towards  the 
middle  of  the  bones,  and  grow  smaller  towards 
their  extremities. 

We  have  a  striking  example  of  what  I  have 
just  stated  in  the  case  of  the  arms.  The  bones 
of  the  arm,  as  seen  in  the  skeleton,  are  so 
large  at  the  joints  and  so  small  in  the  middle, 
as  to  make  the  limb  appear  almost  frightful. 
But  when  we  come  to  see  it  dressed  up  with 
muscles  and  covered  with  the  skin,  it  is  very 
well  proportioned.  The  elbow  in  most  persons 
is  scarcely  larger  than  the  arm  is,  both  above 
and  below  it.  Now  this  is  done  by  means,  as 
I  have  said  before,  of  the  muscles.  They  are 
larger  where  the  bones  are  smaller,  and  grow 
smaller  till  they  come  near  the  joints,  where 
they  run  into  tendons. 

But  before  I  go  farther,  I  must  tell  you  what 
muscles  and  tendons  are. 

THE  MUSCLES. — The  muscles  are  the  flesh, 
— T  mean  the  lean  part  of  it.  They  are  of  a 
reddish  color,  as  you  have  probably  observed. 


COVERING    OF    THE    HOUSE.  117 

The  red  color  is  caused  by  the  blood  in  them  ; 
for  it  is  not  only  true  that  blood,  in  small  veins 
and  arteries,  runs  through  them  in  every  direc- 
tion, but  it  also  tinges  their  whole  substance. 
We  know  this  is  so,  because  when  the  muscles 
have  been  soaked  and  boiled  long  enough,  their 
redness  disappears.  Even  when  boiled  for  the 
table,  the  muscular  parts  of  animals  are  of  a 
paler  red  than  they  were  when  they  were  first 
separated  from  the  mass  of  flesh  to  which  they 
belonged. 

THE  TENDONS. — Some  of  the  muscles  are 
fastened  at  once  to  the  bones,  and  grow  into 
them.  In  this  case  the  covering  of  the  bones, 
or  periosteum,  seems  like  a  sort  of  glue,  in- 
tended to  cement  the  muscle  and  bone  together. 
But  in  general,  the  muscles  are  not  themselves 
fastened  to  the  bone.  They  terminate  towards 
each  end,  by  one  or  more  tendons.  These 
tendons  are  white,  flattened  substances,  like 
belts  or  straps,  and  are  very  tough  and  un- 
yielding. When  boiled  with  the  muscle  to 
which  they  are  attached,  they  are  sometimes 
called  whit-leather ;  and  it  is  almost  as  difficult 


118  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE     IN. 

to  break  them  "to  pieces  with  our  teeth  as  if 
they  were  of  real  leather.  The  muscles,  then, 
usually  terminate  in  tendons,  and  it  is  the  latter 
which  grow  to  the  bone  ;  though  the  muscles 
sometimes  grow  to  the  bone  directly  at  one  of 
their  ends,  without  the  help  of  tendons. 

STRUCTURE  OF  MUSCLES. — The  substance 
of  the  muscle  is  thready  or  fibrous.  You  have 
probably  observed  that  a  piece  of  lean  meat, 
when  boiled,  has  this  thready,  fibrous  appear- 
ance. There  is  one  thing  about  muscles  which 
does  not  so  readily  appear  after  boiling  as  it 
does  before.  A  piece  of  meat  to  be  boiled,  is 
cut  off  in  such  a  manner  that  it  usually  takes 
parts  of  several  different  muscles ;  and  the 
whole,  in  this  way,  seems  like  a  solid  or  nearly 
solid  mass ;  whereas  it  could  be  parted  out, 
with  a  very  little  care,  each  muscle  by  itself. 
Such  is  the  case  with  a  piece  of  flesh  taken 
from  the  leg  of  the  ox ;  and  such  would  be  the 
case  with  a  piece  taken  from  the  human  leg  or 
arm.  These  separate  muscles  are  connected 
to  each  other  by  means  of  what  is  called  cellu- 
lar substance, — a  fine  woolly  sort  of  membrane 


COVERING    OF    THE    HOUSE.  119 

which  I  shall  have  occasion  to  describe  here- 
after. Each  thread  or  fibre  of  each  muscle  is 
also  connected  to  each  other  fibre  which  lies 
next  to  it,  by  the  same  sort  of  cellular  or 
woolly  membrane. 

Thus,  as  you  see,  a  mass  of  lean  flesh,  such 
as  we  boil,  and  such  as  we  see  on  cutting  into 
the  limbs  or  other  parts  of  an  animal,  consists 
of  smaller  bundles  of  flesh,  connected  together 
by  the  cellular  membrane,  but  not  so  tightly  as 
to  hinder  each  bundle  or  muscle  from  moving 
or  sliding  about  a  little  among  the  rest.  Now 
each  muscle,  in  like  manner,  consists  of  a  great 
multitude  of  fibres,  also  connected  together  by 
cellular  membrane.  It  is  also  thought  by 
many  anatomists,  that  each  fibre  is  made  up  of 
a  great  many  smaller  fibres,  so  small  as  not  to 
be  seen  by  the  naked  eye. 

The  number  of  muscles  in  the  human  body 
is  very  great.  Anatomists  do  not  agree  about 
the  number,  because  there  are  many  which 
some  reckon  as  only  one  muscle,  while  others 
call  them  two,  (for  they  have  really  a  double 
appearance ;)  and  because  a  few  are  so  small 
that  some  do  not  count  them.  They  are 


120  THE    HOUSE    1    LIVE    IN. 

usually,  though  not  always,  arranged  in  pairs ; 
that  is,  there  is  one  on  the  right  side  of  the 
body  exactly  like  one  on  the  left  side  opposite 
to  it ;  and  so  on.  We  cannot  reckon  the 
whole  number  at  less  than  four  hundred  and 
fifty,  and  some  make  it  above  five  hundred  and 
twenty. 

I  have  said  that  these  muscles — many  of 
them — end  in  tendons,  or  thin  whitish  straps. 
Sometimes  they  end  in  two  tendons.  The 
biceps,  as  it  is  called  in  books,  a  muscle  that 
lies  on  the  arm,  and  has  one  end  fastened  at 
the  shoulder  and  the  other  at  the  elbow,  has 
two  tendons  at  the  upper  part. 

I  will  show  you  an  engraving  which  will 
give  you  a  pretty  correct  idea  of  the  shape 
of  the  muscle  I  have  just  been  speaking  of, 
as  well  as  of  muscles  and  tendons  in  general. 
You  must  remember,  however,  that  only  a  few 
muscles  have  double  tendons,  as  this  has ;  and 
that  they  are  far  from  being  all  of  them  as 
perfect  and  beautiful  as  this.  Some  are  quite 
ill  shaped,  and  irregular  in  their  appearance. 


COVERING    OF    THE    HOUSE. 


121 


ACTION  OF  MUSCLES. — In  front  of  St.  Pe- 
ter's church  at  Rome,  stands  an  obelisk  of  red 
Egyptian  granite,  124  feet  high.  It  was 
brought  from  Egypt  to  Rome,  by  order  of  the 
Roman  Emperor  Caligula.  However,  it  lay 
11 


122  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN". 

partly  buried  in  the  earth  where  it  was  laid 
down,  till  about  250  years  ago,  when  Pope 
Sixtus  V,  by  the  help  of  forty-one  strong 
machines,  eight  hundred  men,  and  one  hundred 
and  sixty  horses,  succeeded  in  eight  days,  in 
getting  it  out  of  the  ground  ;  but  it  took  four 
months  more  to  remove  it  fifty  or  sixty  rods 
farther,  to  its  present  situation. 

When  they  had  reached  the  spot,  the  grand 
point  was  to  raise  it.  They  erected  a  pedestal 
or  foot  piece,  shaped  like  four  lions,  for  it  to 
stand  on  ;  and  by  means  of  powerful  machines 
and  many  strong  ropes  and  tackles,  they  placed 
the  bottom  of  it  on  the  pedestal.  Then  they 
began,  with  their  machinery,  to  raise  it.  But 
when  it  was  nearly  up,  so  that  it  would  almost 
stand,  the  ropes,  it  is  said,  had  stretched  so 
much  more  than  the  master  workman  expected, 
that  it  would  go  no  farther. 

What  was  to  be  done  ?  Fontana,  the  master 
workman,  had  forbid  all  talking  ;  and  they  now 
stood  holding  upon  the  tackles  so  silently  that 
you  might  have  heard  a  whisper.  Suddenly 
an  English  sailor  cried  out — "  Wet  the  ropes." 
This  was  no  sooner  said  than  done  ;  when,  to  the 


COVERING    OF    THE    HOUSE.  123 

joy  and  surprise  of  everybody,  the  ropes  shrunk 
just  enough  to  raise  the  obelisk  to  its  place, 
where  it  has  now  stood  nearly  250  years — and 
where  it  may  perhaps  continue  to  stand  many 
thousand  years,  unless  an  earthquake  should 
shake  it  down. 

You  will  probably  begin  to  wonder  what  this 
story  has  to  do  with  anatomy  and  physiology. 
I  will  tell  you.  The  muscles  are  the  parts  by 
means  of  which  we  move  our  heads,  our 
arms,  our  legs,  &c.  In  fact,  we  could  not  so 
much  as  move  a  ringer,  or  any  part  of  oiir 
bodies,  without  them. 

But  they  move  these  parts  by  contracting 
or  shrinking.  Being  fastened  to  the  bones  at 
each  end,  they  must,  you  know,  if  they- shrink, 
draw  one  of  the  bones  to  which  they  are 
strongly  fastened  towards  the  other.  If  the 
muscles  between  the  shoulder  and  elbow  shrink, 
they  must  either  draw  the  shoulder  towards 
the  elbow,  or  the  arm  below  the  elbow  towards 
the  shoulder.  You  can  judge  for  yourselves 
which  would  be  most  likely  to  happen.  II, 

The  muscles  will  not  contract  or  shrink  a 
great  deal,  it  is  true ;  but  they  will  do  so  much 


124 


THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 


more,  in  proportion  to  their  length,  than  wet 
ropes  will. 

ILLUSTRATIONS. — I  must  explain  this  matter 
by  another  engraving.  Here  is  a  picture  of 
the  right  arm.  It  is  represented  as  if  every- 
thing was  cut  away  from  the  bone,  except  the 
single  muscle  of  which  I  was  just  now  speak- 
ing, (the  biceps,)  and  the  skin.  It  is  repre- 
sented, too,  as  already  shrunk,  and  the  arm 
drawn  up  as  far  as  possible  towards  the  shoul- 
der. You  see  how  large  this  muscle  is  in  the 
middle,  when  thus  contracted,  and  also  the 
point  at  which  it  is  inserted  below  the  elbow. 


COVERING  OF  THE  HOUSE.      125 

In  one  respect,  a  muscle  does  not  shrink 
a  rope  ;  for  the  latter,  when  it  shortens, 
or  grows  larger,  swells  all  the  way  alike  ;  but 
when  a  muscle  contracts  to  draw  up  a  limb, 
it  swells  chiefly  in  the  middle.  Some  mus- 
cles do  not  swell  so  much  as  this,  when  they 
shorten,  but  they  are  all  enlarged  more  or  less, 
when  they  move  any  part  of  our  body. 

Perhaps  you  do  not  yet  understand  how  a 
muscle,  by  contracting  or  shortening,  pulls  up 
the  arm.  I  will  endeavor  to  make  it  more 
plain. 

I  now  sit  at  my  table — my  right  arm  lying 
on  it.  For  the  sake  of  explanation,  I  will  con- 
sider it  as  helpless  as  a  stick  of  wood.  Now 
if  I  wish  to  get  my  hand  to  my  head,  how  is 
it  to  be  done  ?  If  a  piece  of  dry  rppe,  fastened 
by  one  end  at  the  shoulder,  and  by  the  other 
to  my  hand,  \vere  moistened,  it  would  shrink 
a  little,  and  raise  my  hand  a  little  way  from 
the  table,  but  not  very  far. 

But    suppose    the    lower    end    of  the  rope 

were  fastened   round  the  middle  of  my  arm, 

and  then  made  to  shrink  ;  would  it  not  raise 

the  hand  higher  than  before — I  mean,  if  the 

11* 


126  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

elbow  remained  where  it  was?  It  certainly 
would.  Still  it  would  not  bring  the  hand  up 
to  the  head,  nor  half  way  to  it.  But  suppose 
once  more,  that  the  lower  end  of  the  rope 
were  fastened  still  nearer  the  elbo\v.  The 
nearer  it  is,  the  farther  it  draws  up  the  hand, 
when  it  shrinks. 

Now  the  end,  or  tendon  of  the  muscles, 
which  shrink  to  draw  the  hand  up  towards  the 
head,  is  fastened  to  the  arm  below  the  elbow ; 
but  is  close  to  it,  so  that,  in  shrinking  only  an 
inch  or  so,  it  draws  the  hand  up  to  the  head. 
If  you  lay  the  other  hand  on  your  arm,  be- 
tween the  shoulder  and  the  elbow,  you  can 
feel  it  contract,  and  at  the  same  time  see  it 
swell  out. 

If  the  lower  end  of  the  tendon  of  this  muscle 
were  fastened  lower  down,  that  is,  farther  from 
the  elbow,  it  would  start  out  so  far,  when  we 
raise  our  arm,  as  to  make  a  very  singular  ap- 
pearance, unless  a  band  were  put  around  it  at 
the  elbow,  to  keep  it  down,  which  would  have 
been  very  inconvenient.  As  it  now  is,  the 
tendon  starts  out  a  little  way,  as  you  may  see 
by  the  engraving,  and  as  you  may  know  by 


COVERING    OF    THE    HOUSE.  127 

placing  your  hand  on  it,  or  under  the  knee, 
while  you  are  bending  a  limb.  But  as  the 
matter  is  contrived  by  the  great  Architect,  it 
renders  the  arm  very  useful,  gives  it  a  good 
shape,  and  ought  to  raise  our  thoughts  in  grati- 
tude to  infinite  Wisdom. 

One  illustration  more.  Suppose  I  am  sit- 
ting at  church,  with  rny  pew  door  open,  and 
wish  to  close  it  without  disturbing  anybody. 
Shall  I  take  hold  of  it  near  the  hinge,  so  that 
a  little  moving  of  my  hand  and  arm  will  an- 
swer the  purpose,  or  shall  I  take  hold  farther 
off?  Again,  suppose  a  rope  were  to  do  the 
work — would  not  one  which  should  be  tied 
to  the  door  close  to  the  hinge,  and  then  made 
to  shrink,  say  an  inch,  draw  it  together  much 
more  than  if  it  were  tied  at  the  distance  of  a 
foot  from  the  hinge  ?  It  is  true  that,  in  shut- 
ting a  door  by  taking  hold  close  to  the  hinge, 
we  must  pull  harder  than  if  we  did  not ;  and 
so  it  is  with  muscles,  like  those  which  move 
the  arm. 

From  the  course  of  these  remarks,  I  fear  it 
will  be  thought  that  there  is  only  one  muscle 
concerned  in  bending  the  arm.  The  truth  is, 
that  in  performing  almost  any  motion  of  the 


128  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

body,  a  great  number  of  the  muscles  are  em- 
ployed. In  moving  the  hand  alone,  we  use 
nearly  forty  ;  and  in  using  the  whole  arm,  not 
much  less,  I  presume,  than  one  hundred. 

If  you  look  on  a  skeleton,  (see  page  107  and 
the  frontispiece,)  you  see  how  the  bones  at  the 
joints  project,  and  also  how  ragged  the  spine 
and  many  of  the  flat  bones  appear.  Now  the 
several  hundred  muscles  of  our  frame  fill  up  all 
these  spaces,  cover  the  ragged  bones,  and  pro- 
duce that  smooth  surface  which  we  see  on  a 
healthy  human  body. 

The  change  which  takes  place  is  something 
like  that  which  would  happen,  if  we  were  to 
take  some  rather  soft  pliable  substance,  as 
hemp,  and  not  only  wind  it  about  all  the  side- 
pieces  of  timber  in  a  wooden  house  frame,  but 
extend  it  across  from  timber  to  timber,  until 
the  whole  were  so  filled  up  and  rounded  as  to 
appear  like  an  even  and  regular  surface,  in- 
stead of  a  broken  range  of  pieces  of  timber, 
with  large  vacancies  between  them. 

ABOUT  FAT. — But  I  must  not  leave  the 
impression  that  the  muscles  and  tendons  per- 
form all  the  "  filling  up  "  of  the  human  frame, 


COVERING    OF    THE    HOUSE.  129 

for  it  is  not  so.  They  are  covered  again  by 
the  skin,  which  is  to  be  described  in  the  next 
chapter.  Nor  is  this  quite  all.  There  is  in 
most  persons  a  small  quantity  of  fat,  intermixed 
with  the  muscles ;  and  in  some  persons  a  great 
deal  of  it.  This  fat  is  found  in  the  soft,  white, 
cellular  substance  which  is  placed  everywhere 
between  the  muscles,  and  the  little  bundles  of 
which  they  are  made  up.  You  will  now  be 
able  to  understand  and  remember  the  meaning 
of  the  word  cellular,  for  it  means  made  up  of 
cells,  something  like  honey-comb  ;  and  the  fat 
is  deposited  in  these  cells.  Only  a  small  quan- 
tity of  fat  is  necessary  to  health  ;  and  when  it 
is  found  in  unusually  large  quantities,  in  man  or 
in  other  animals,  it  shows  that  they  are  diseased. 

REFLECTIONS. — Thus  we  see  that  the  great 
purposes  which  the  muscles  and  tendons  sub- 
serve are,  the  filling  up  and  beautifying  of  the 
frame,  and  the  motion  of  its  parts  and  of  the 
whole.  We  should  be  more  helpless  than  the 
brutes  are,  if  we  had  no  muscles.  Indeed,  as 
we  could  not  move  a  finger  without  them,  we 
should  be  more  miserable  than  any  other  ani- 
mal ;  for  all  animals  have  muscles — even  those 


130  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

which,  like  some  shell-fish,  hardly  know  enough 
to  change  their  place. 

But  with  the  hundreds  of  muscles  which  we 
now  possess,  how  multiplied  are  our  motions! 
For  you  must  recollect  that  not  only  the  move- 
ments of  the  head,  arms,  hands,  fingers,  back, 
legs,  toes,  &tc.  are  performed  by  these  means, 
but  also  the  movements  of  the  very  chest  it- 
self in  breathing,  unless,  as  is  the  case  with 
some  unwise  or  ignorant  mothers,  we  confine 
the  latter  by  tight  clothing.  More  than  all 
this,  the  curious  processes  of  chewing  and  swal- 
lowing our  food,  and  of  speaking,  singing,  cry- 
ing and  laughing,  are  chiefly  done — not  without 
the  aid  of  the  teeth,  it  is  true — by  means  of 
the  muscles. 

The  muscles  have  other  uses  still,  besides 
those  of  beauty  and  motion  ;  but  the  reader  is 
not  prepared  to  understand  what  they  are, 
till  he  knows  more  about  the  blood  and  the 
circulation.  In  describing  the  circulation  of 
the  blood,  I  shall  be  likely  to  make  the  matter 
plainer,  by  far — and  with  fewer  words  than  I 
could  possibly  do  it  in  this  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE  COVERING.— BOARDS  AND  SHINGLES. 

The  Skin.  Coloring'  of  the  Skin.  Change 
of  Color.  Oil  Glands.  Pores  of  the 
Skin.  Cleanliness.  Hair  and  Nails. 

No  part  of  the  human  structure  is  more  fa- 
vorable for  carrying  out  the  similitude  of  a 
house,  than  the  skin.  If  we  were  to  regard 
the  body,  to  the  extent  I  have  now  described 
it,  as  the  mere  frame  of  the  building — though 
in  reality  the  bones  and  ligaments  alone  consti- 
tute the  frame  work — the  skin  would  compare 
almost  exactly  with  the  clapboards  and  shin- 
gles. For  there  is  first  a  thin  series  of  lining 
boards,  then  a  layer  of  thicker  boards,  and 
then  the  shingles  or  clapboards. 

A  coat  of  paint  is  also  applied  in  both  cases  ; 
but  the  place  of  application  is  somewhat  differ- 


132  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

ent.  In  a  common  wooden  building,  the  paint 
is  applied  to  the  outside  ;  but  in  the  house  I 
occupy,  it  is  put  between  the  clapboards  and 
the  thick  boards  under  them. — But  to  be  a 
little  more  particular. 

THE  SKIN. — I  have  already  told  you  what 
cellular  membrane  is.  Now  the  first  layer  of 
the  covering  of  the  house  I  live  in,  consists 
of  this  membrane,  in  pretty  large  quantity,  and 
as  it  were  firmly  pressed  together.  That  it  is 
the  very  same  sort  of  membrane — full  of  little 
cells — is  proved  from  the  fact  that  if  you  insert 
a  quill  into  a  small  hole  through  the  middle 
layer  of  the  skin,  which  I  am  about  to  describe, 
and  blow  with Jy our  mouth  or  a  bellows,  you 
can  fill  these  cells,  all  over  the  body,  with  air ; 
and  a  small  animal,  like  a  rabbit  or  a  squirrel, 
will  look  almost  as  round  as  a  foot-ball. 

Next  to  this  is  the  middle  layer,  or  what 
answers  to  the  stout,  rough  boards  of  a  build- 
ing, on  which  the  clapboards  are  laid.  This, 
and  this  alone,  is  the  real  skin,  or  that  which, 
in  the  case  of  the  ox,  deer  and  other  animals, 
makes  the  leather.  In  tanning,  currying  and 


COVERING    OF    THE    HOUSE.  133 

dressing  skins,  the  cellular  layer  just  now  de- 
scribed, the  layer  which  remains  to  be  de- 
scribed, and  the  paint,  are  all  scraped  off,  and 
nothino-  remains  but  the  true  or  real  skin — the 

O 

layer  now  under  consideration. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  here  that  leather  con- 
sists of  nothing  but  this  skin,  for  I  know  that 
tannin,  as  the  chemists  call  it,  combines  with 
the  raw  hide,  to  make  most  kinds  of  leather; 
but  I  mean  that  no  animal  substance  goes  to 
form  the  leather,  except  this  single  membrane. 

This  membrane,  or  real  skin,  is  principally 
composed  of  an  almost  endless  number  of  small 
blood  vessels,  running  along  and  crossing  each 
other  in  nearly  every  direction,  together  with 
nerves  quite  as  numerous,  intermingled  with 
them.  The  nerves,  however,  seem  to  be  en- 
larged on  the  surface  of  this  membrane,  and 
to  form  little  rows  of  eminences  or  pimples. 
These  are  seen  plainest  on  the  tongue,  and  on 
the  balls  of  the  fingers  ;  but  exist,  of  a  small 
size,  all  over  us.  You  cannot  prick  the  skin 
with  the  finest  needle  in  the  world,  without 
hitting  at  least  one  nerve  and  one  blood  vessel. 
For  there  would  be  pain  in  doing  so :  and  this 
12 


134  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

always  shows  that  a  nerve  is  wounded.  A 
very  little  blood  would  also  flow,  which  shows 
that  you  have  hit  a  blood  vessel. 

COLORING  OF  THE  SKIN. — Now  we  are 
corne  to  the  place  of  the  paint — the  color  of 
the  human  body.  For  so  far  as  I  have  already 
described  the  skin,  the  color  is  exactly  alike  in 
all  people,  black,  red  or  white.  Here,  spread 
over  the  true  skin — the  part  which  forms  the 
leather — on  a  thin  gauze-like  membrane,  and 
under  the  outside  membrane  not  yet  described, 
is  a  soft  pulpy  or  jelly-like  substance,  con- 
taining the  color.  In  the  African,  this  pulpy 
substance  is  black  ;  in  the  native  American  or 
Indian,  it  is  red  or  copper  color;  in  the  Asiatic, 
it  is  yellow,  and  in  the  European,  white.  In 
mixed  breeds,  it  is  of  course  of  the  various 
colors  which  those  mixtures  exhibit. 

I  have  sometimes  been  surprised  to  find  how 
ignorant  many  people  are  on  this  subject  of 
color.  Some  have  never  thought  of  it  at  all ; 
others  suppose  that  the  whole  mass  of  our 
bodies  is  darker  or  lighter,  according  to  the  in- 
dication of  our  faces ;  others  suppose  the  color 
is  in  the  blood ;  and  others  still  that  it  is  in  the 


COVERING    OF    THE    HOUSE.  135 

true  skin,  or  the  part  which  forms  the  leather. 
But  we  see  that  none  of  these  are  right — that 
the  skin  itself,  properly  so  called,  is  alike  in 
the  whole  human  race,  that  is,  it  would  form 
leather  of  the  same  color  in  all  ;  and  that  the 
color  might  be  removed,  though  not  without 
much  pain,  leaving  one  individual  as  white 
and  as  dark  as  another. 

What  good  this  color  does  is,  I  believe,  un- 
known ;  or  why  all  mankind  could  not  just  as 
well  have  been  left  wholly  without  it,  and  thus 
all  have  been  really  flesh-colored.  In  some 
parts  of  the  skin,  in  the  European  race,  there 
seems,  in  fact,  to  be  but  very  little  of  it.  It  is 
only  on  the  cheek,  and  perhaps  the  lips,  that 
the  color  seems  to  differ  much  from  that  of  the 
real  skin  itself. 

I  know  that  there  have  been  a  great  many 
conjectures  about  the  uses  of  this  coloring  mat- 
ter ;  but  there  is  very  little  true  knowledge 
abroad  concerning  it.  We  know,  indeed,  that 
a  dark  skin,  as  it  suffers  the  heat  of  the  body 
to  escape  more  rapidly  than  a  light  one,  ren- 
ders a  person  cooler  in  hot  weather,  in  hot 
climates  ;  but  it  would  be  difficult  to  believe 
that  this  is  the  principal  reason  for  its  existence. 


136  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

CHANGE  OF  COLOR. — There  is  one  curious 
fact  which  deserves  to  be  mentioned  in  this 
place.  It  is  that  the  coloring  matter,  in  some 
persons,  has  been  known  to  change.  There 
have  been  several  negroes,  and  I  believe  one 
or  two  Indians,  in  whom  spots  of  a  chalky 
white  have  appeared  on  their  limbs,  which 
enlarged  and  spread  until  the  whole  body  be- 
came white.  These  facts,  strange  as  they  are, 
may  be  relied  on. 

It  is  not  at  all  strange  for  other  buildings  to 
fade  ;  but  for  the  human  habitation  to  lose  its 
color,  imbedded  as  the  paint  is  under  a  hard, 
tough  membrane,  is  rather  unaccountable.  But 
it  is  the  result,  no  doubt,  of  disease. 

THE  CUTICLE. — But  the  mention  of  the 
membrane  which  covers  this  paint  or  pigment 
on  the  human  skin,  reminds  me  that  it  is  time 
to  describe  it. 

This  membrane,  which  answers  to  the  clap- 
boards, shingles  or  tiles  of  a  wooden  building, 
is  constructed  almost  exactly  like  the  latter. 
Or  perhaps  it  would  be  equally  correct  to  say 
that  it  is  formed  like  the  scales  of  fishes.  For 
anatomists  who  have  viewed  it  with  glasses 


COVERING    OF    THE    HOUSE.  137 

which  magnify  greatly,  say  that,  thin  as  it  ap- 
pears to  the  naked  eye,  such  is  its  real  struc- 
ture. It  is  called,  in  books,  the  cuticle,  or 
scarf-skin,  and  sometimes  the  epidermis  ;  in 
short,  it  has  a  great  many  names ;  but  cuticle 
is  the  best. 

The  cuticle  is  the  part  which  rises  when  the 
skin  is  blistered.  If  you  examine  it  when  it  is 
thus  raised,  however,  you  will  be  a  little  dis- 
appointed in  regard  to  its  structure  ;  for  it  is 
then  so  soaked  with  the  water  of  the  blister, 
and  so  much  thickened,  that  jt  does  not  appear 
at  all  natural.  In  its  healthy  state,  it  is  scarcely 
a  fiftieth  part  as  thick  as  the  covering  of  a  blis- 
ter; besides  which,  it  is  transparent,  or  nearly 
so.  If  it  were  not,  you  could  not  see  the  col- 
oring matter  under  it  so  plainly. 

You  will  get  the  best  idea  of  this  cuticle 
which  the  naked  eye  can  give  you,  by  exam- 
ining it  when  you  have  by  accident  grazed  off 
small  portions  of  it.  I  have  often  grazed  it 
from  my  leg,  when  a  boy  ;  and  sometimes  I 
have  grazed  a  little  too  deeply. 

These  grazed  places  soon  heal,  however,  if 
we  are  temperate,  and  correct  in  all  our  habits, 
12* 


138  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

though  I  have  known  an  old  man,  who  was 
intemperate,  to  have  a  sore  and  lame  leg  al- 
most a  year,  in  consequence  of  a  slight  wound 
that  would  have  healed  in  a  week,  had  he 
been  temperate. 

The  most  surprising  fact  in  regard  to  the 
cuticle  is,  its  power  of  being  reproduced,  or 
growing  again.  If  grazed  off,  or  if  it  peels 
off,  after  a  blister  or  swelling,  a  new  cuticle 
appears  with  so  much  rapidity  that  one  would 
be  tempted  to  think  it  was  already  formed  un- 
der the  old  one,  as  the  new  teeth  are  under 
the  old  ones,  which  they  push  out.  But  it -is 
not  so.  The  new  cuticle  never  grows  till  the 
old  one  is  either  separated  or  dead. 

The  coloring  matter,  if  destroyed,  grows 
again,  or  appears  again,  almost  as  soon  as  the 
cuticle  does.  But  the  real  skin,  which  I  de- 
scribed just  now,  if  once  destroyed,  never  grows 
again.  This  is  the  reason  why  scars  are  pro- 
duced on  us.  The  loss  of  the  cuticle  or  the 
paint  never  causes  scars ;  but  that  of  the  real 
skin  always  does.  It  is  true  the  place  is  some- 
times filled  up  with  a  substance  which  strongly 
resembles  skin,  and  which  answers  the  purpose, 


COVERING    OF    THE    HOUSE.  139 

but  it  is  never  real  skin  ;  and  this  is  the  reason 
why  it  remains  a  scar. 

OIL  GLANDS. — No  process  has  ever  been 
devised,  so  far  as  I  know,  by  which  the  outside 
of  a  building  can  be  oiled  of  itself,  without 
manual  labor.  Nor  is  it  common  or  necessary 
to  apply  oil  to  a  building,  except  in  the  form 
of  paint,  which  is  partly  oil. 

But  the  animal  frame  seems  to  require  fre- 
quent oiling  ;  and,  in  some  of  the  feathered 
tribes,  it  is  done  by  the  beak.  They  have  a 
little  gland,  as  it  is  called,  which  furnishes 
them  with  oil.  This  oil  they  press  out  with 
their  bills,  and  then  apply  it  to  their  feathers, 
which  also  overlap  each  other  like  shingles, 
that  they  may  the  better  shed  the  rain. 

But  most  other  animals,  instead  of  having 
the  oil  in  a  single  bag  or  gland,  have  it  in  a 
thousand  little  glands,  almost  too  small  to  be 
seen  by  the  naked  eye,  and  imbedded  in  the 
skin.  They  are  very  thick  indeed  in  the  skin 
of  the  sheep,  and  hence  the  wool  of  a  healthy 
sheep  is  always  quite  oily.  They  are  nume- 
rous, too,  about  the  roots  of  the  hair  of  most 


140  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

animals  ;  and  hence  it  is  that  the  hair — even 
the  human  hair — in  a  state  of  health,  appears 
more  or  less  oily. 

This  oil  for  the  hair  appears  to  be  furnished 
by  a  multitude  of  little  bags  or  glands  lying 
near  its  roots,  somewhat  resembling  a  bottle  in 
their  shape,  from  the  open  neck  of  which  oozes 
the  oil. 

In  man,  the  hair  of  whose  body  is  generally 
thin,  this  oil  is  in  very  small  quantity,  and  is 
not  very  important  to  health.  Those  nations — 
and  some  such  there  have  been  and  still  are — 
who  put  on  an  additional  quantity  of  oil,  are 
far  from  being  the  most  healthy.  In  fact,  if 
the  human  skin  is  not  often  washed,  to  get  rid 
even  of  its  natural  oil,  it  becomes  a  source  of 
disease. 

PORES  OF  THE  SKIN. — Besides  the  mouths 
of  these  little  oil  glands,  many  anatomists  have 
considered  the  skin,  and  the  cuticle  among  the 
rest,  as  pierced  with  little  openings  called 
pores,  almost  innumerable.  Some  have  reck- 
oned them  at  1,000,000  to  every  square  inch. 
Others,  however,  deny  all  this.  But  one  thing 


COVERING    OF    THE    HOUSE.  141 

is  very  certain,  which  is,  that  what  we  call 
sweat,  when  it  becomes  abundant,  is  constantly 
escaping  through  the  skin  and  its  cuticle,  in 
the  form  of  a  thick  mist  or  fog,  as  we  may  see 
by  holding  a  bright  mirror  close  to  it,  which 
will  immediately  become  tarnished.  Or  if  we 
sit  where  the  sun  shines  across  us  upon  a  wall, 
we  can  see  the  shadow  of  the  mist  which  as- 
cends from  us,  rising  like  a  sheet  of  thin  smoke 
upon  the  wall. 

CLEANLINESS. — It  is  of  less  consequence 
to  people  to  know  how  this  moisture  escapes, 
than  to  know  the  fact  itself,  and  to  know  also 
that  if  this  constant  perspiration — for  that  is 
its  name — is  checked  for  any  considerable  time, 
mischief  in  the  form  of  colds,  fevers,  rheuma- 
tisms and  consumptions  may  ensue.  Great 
mischief  may  also  follow,  if  the  perspiration  is 
checked  by  neglect  of  cleanliness. 

There  are  also  other  offices  performed  by 
the  skin  that  are  curious,  but  I  will  mention  no 
more  of  them  now.  The  more  you  understand 
the  structure  of  this  part  of  the  frame,  the 
more  you  will  see  how  important  it  is  that  it 


142  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

should  be  kept  clean  by  washing,  every  day 
we  live.  And  yet  how  many  there  are,  who 
do  not  wash  it  at  all,  except  perhaps  their 
face  and  hands  !  Such  persons  are  not  fit  to 
be  entrusted  with  a  habitation  so  fearfully  and 
wonderfully  wrought.  In  truth,  they  are  not 
usually  so  long  entrusted  with  it  as  others. 
The  great  Architect  usually  turns  them  out 
many  years  earlier  than  he  would,  if  they  took 
care  of  it ;  and  in  the  case  of  cholera  or  malig- 
nant fever,  sometimes  thrusts  them  out  with 
apparent  though  deserved  violence. 

THE  HAIR  AND  NAILS. — This  is  the  proper 
place  for  saying  something  about  the  hair  and 
nails ;  for  these,  though  not  skin,  are  closely 
connected  with  it,  and  even  fitted  into  it.  The 
hair  appears  to  be  the  proper  covering  for  the 
head,  but  more  pains  are  necessary  to  comb  it 
and  keep  it  clean  than  are  commonly  used ; 
and  for  this  and  several  other  reasons,  it  is  apt 
to  become  sickly  and  diseased,  and  to  fall  off. 

In  some  parts  of  Europe,  as  among  the 
peasants  of  Poland  and  Hungary,  who  greatly 
neglect  cleanliness,  and  are  addicted  to  other 


COVERING    OF    THE    HOUSE.  143 

filthy  and  bad  habits,  the  hair  becomes  matted 
and  worse  than  matted  together,  and  a  terrible 
disease  ensues,  called  plica  polonica.  But  in 
all  countries,  not  only  the  hair,  but  the  health 
in  general,  suffers  more  or  less,  if  we  long 
neglect  cleanliness  of  any  part  of  our  bodies. 

As  to  the  nails,  I  can  only  say  that  they  are 
intended  to  brace  or  support  the  balls  of  the 
fingers,  so  that  we  can  use  them  the  better 
in  examining  bodies  by  the  sense  of  touch. 
Hence  one  reason  why  they  should  not  be 
pared  too  closely ;  and  hence,  too,  the  reason 
why,  when  they  are  pared  too  closely,  the 
ends  of  the  fingers  often  become  more  or  less 
crooked. 


CHAPTER   XII. 


THE  COVERING.— THE  WINDOWS. 

General  Remarks.  The  Human  Eye. 
Situation  of  the  Eye.  Coats  of  the  Eye* 
Optic  Nerve.  The  Tears.  The  Eyelids. 
The  Eyebrows.  Reflections. 

GENERAL  REMARKS. — Before  glass  was  in- 
vented, the  windows  of  dwelling  houses  were 
small,  and  made  in  different  ways.  In  sum- 
mer, they  often  consisted  of  a  mere  hole  in 
the  side  of  the  building.  In  the  eastern  houses 
there  were  no  windows  of  any  kind  in  front, 
or  towards  their  neighbors ;  and  in  China,  this- 
is  the  custom  to  the  present  day. 

In  winter,  these  holes  or  windows  were 
closed  up  with  something  which  would  par- 
tially exclude  the  cold,  the  rain  and  the  snow. 
In  some  countries  of  Asia,  and  in  ancient  Bri- 
tain, they  used  oiled  paper  for  this  purpose. 


THE    WINDOWS.  145 

In  France,  besides  oiled  paper,  they  used  talc  or 
isinglass,  white  horn,  and  thinly  shaved  leather. 
In  ancient  Rome,  the  rich  sometimes  used 
very  precious  stones.  Those  in  their  bathing 
houses  were  often  of  agate  or  marble.  The 
Chinese  used  a  very  fine  cloth,  covered  with  a 
shining  varnish  ;  and,  afterwards,  split  oyster 
shells.  They  had  also  the  art  of  working  out 
the  horns  of  animals  into  large  and  thin  plates, 
which  they  used  in  the  place  of  glass  for  their 
windows. 

The  first  windows  of  common  glass,  that  is, 
sand,  potash,  &c.,  melted  together  and  formed 
into  plates,  were  made  in  the  time  of  Con- 
stantine  the  Great,  in  the  fourth  century  after 
Christ.  But  it  was  not  till  the  fifteenth  or 
sixteenth  century,  that  glass  was  brought  into 
common  and  general  use. 

THE  HUMAN  EYE. — The  windows  of  the 
human  frame  are  made  neither  of  paper,  isin- 
glass, agate,  marble,  horn,  leather,  cloth,  oyster 
shells,  or  common  glass.  Nor  are  they  con- 
fined to  the  back  part  of  the  house,  like  those 
of  some  eastern  nations.  Nor  are  they 
13 


146  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

large  or  numerous.  There  are  but  two  of 
them,  and  those  not  so  large  as  a  hen's  egg. 
They  are  set  in  the  front  of  the  house,  in  the 
cupola. 

Both  of  them  open  and  shut — rise  and  fall, 
have  the  curtains  drawn  or  removed,  and  the 
blinds  opened  or  closed — at  the  same  instant. 
Some  windows  are  only  made  to  be  raised, 
that  is,  moved,  in  one  direction  ;  but  these 
move  every  way,  and  with  great  ease  and  ra- 
pidity. It  is  done  by  means  of  pulleys,  &c. 
The  curtains  may  be  drawn  or  removed  almost 
with  the  swiftness  of  lightning,  and  hundreds 
of  times  in  a  minute. 

SITUATION  or  THE  EYE. — The  truth  is  that 
the  human  eye  is  almost  as  round  as  an  apple, 
but  not  quite  ;  for  it  projects  out  a  little  at  the 
fore  part.  In  an  adult  person,  it  is  not  more 
than  an  inch  in  diameter,  and  lies  deep  in  a 
cavity  in  the  skull.  It  is  not  fixed,  like  the 
eyes  of  some  animals  ;  but  can  be  made  to  roll 
about,  upward,  downward  and  sideways.  For 
this  purpose,  it  does  not  adhere  closely  to  the 
bone,  but  lies  on  a  soft  bed  of  fat  substance, 
and  has  many  muscles  or  cords  fastened  to  the 


THE    WINDOWS. 


147 


sides  and  back  part  of  it}  as  you  see  in  the  en- 
graving. 


If  the  eye  of  a  dead  person — say  a  criminal 
— was  to  be  cut  in  two  in  the  middle  from  top 
to  bottom,  with  the  handle  of  the  knife  held 
forward,  and  the  point  towards  the  back  side  of 
the  head,  a  side  view  of  one  of  these  halves 
might  be  supposed  to  look  like  the  engraving. 
A  large  whitish  cord,  which  you  see  running 
from  b  to  the  back  side  of  the  eye,  comes  from 
the  brain,  and  is  called  the  optic  nerve.  The 
rest  of  the  cords  between  d  and  e  are  muscles, 
or  little  bundles  of  flesh ;  and  they  become  ten- 
dons, or  white,  hard  cords,  at  the  smaller  part, 
where  they  are  fastened  to  the  eye.  The  up- 
per one  goes  round  a  little  piece  of  bone  like  a 


148  THE    HOUSE    1    LIVE    IN. 

hook,  as  you  find  at  c.     The  lower  one,  /,  is 
also  fastened  in  a  very  ingenious  manner. 

The  tendon  that  passes  round  a  piece  of  the 
bone  of  the  forehead,  is  fastened  to  the  very 
top  of  the  eye  ball.  Now  it  is  easy  to  see  that 
if  the  upper  muscle  at  d  should  contract  or 
shrink,  it  would  operate  just  as  if  it  were  a 
rope,  and  somebody  pulled  it ; — that  is  to  say, 
it  would  pull  the  top  of  the  eye  ball  forward, 
and  make  the  fore  part,  at  a,  turn  downward, 
so  that  a  person  would  look  towards  his  feet. 

COATS  OF  THE  EYE. — The  eye  is  a  large 
hollow  sack,  containing  a  clear  but  thick  liquid, 
most  of  which  is  not  unlike  the  white  of  an 
egg.  The  covering  of  the  eye  consists  of 
several  layers  or  coats. 

The  outside,  or  sclerotic  coat,  as  it  is  called, 
can  be  seen  in  the  engraving.  It  is  very  thin, 
and  a  small  portion  of  it  at  the  fore  part  is 
wanting.  In  this  vacancy  or  opening  is  set  the 
cornea,  a  piece  of  membrane  which  is  transpa- 
rent, that  is,  can  be  seen  through  like  glass. 
This  transparent  part  you  will  find  near  a.  It 
is  placed  in  the  sclerotica,  as  a  crystal  is  set  in 
a  watch  ;  or,  if  we  compare  the  eye  to  a  win- 


THE    WINDOWS.  149 

dow,  just  as  a  pane  of  glass  is  set  in  the  frame ; 
with  this  difference,  however,  that  a  pane  of 
glass  is  seldom  round,  but  the  cornea  is  as 
round  as  a  dollar.  It  also  stands  out  from  the 
eye,  like  the  crystals  of  most  watches.  The 
rays  of  light- enter  the  eye  through  this  cornea, 
and  pass  to  the  back  part  of  it.  What  we 
call  the  white  of  the  eye  is  the  sclerotica,  or 
window  frame,  as  far  as  we  can  see  it,  sur- 
rounding the  cornea. 

The  tunica  sclerotica,  or  sclerotic  coat  of 
the  eye,  is  lined  by  another  thin  coat  called 
the  choroides.  The  internal  surface  of  the 
choroides  is  covered  all  over,  except  at  the 
back  part,  where  the  optic  nerve  enters,  with  a 
thin  sooty  kind  of  black  paste,  called  by  anato- 
mists the  pigmentum  nigrum,  which  means 
black  pigment.  You  see  this  represented  very 
fairly  in  the  engraving,  and  as  this  is  spread 
over  the  choroides,  and  the  choroides  only 
lines  the  sclerotica,  and  does  not  extend  to  the 
cornea,  you  can  easily  see  where  the  latter  be- 
gins. 

Where  the  sclerotica  and  cornea  join,  a  kind 
of  circular  membrane  or  curtain  runs  inwards, 
13* 


150  THE    HOUSE    1    LIVE    IN. 

and  is  represented  in  the  cut  by  two  white 
lines  approaching  each  other,  but  not  quite 
coming  together.  When  we  look  at  the  eye 
of  a  living  person,  this  curtain  is  sometimes 
light  blue  ;  in  other  persons  it  is  gray,  hazel  or 
black.  When  this  curtain — called  the  iris — is 
blue,  the  person  is  said  to  have  blue  eyes ; 
when  black,  he  is  said  to  have  black  eyes,  &ic. 

The  hole  in  the  middle  of  the  iris  is  called 
the  pupil  of  the  eye.  It  is  larger  or  smaller  in 
proportion  as  the  iris  is  shrunk  more  or  less  ; 
for  the  iris  will  shrink  or  contract,  a  little  like 
the  muscles.  The  greater  the  light  before  the 
eye,  the  smaller  is  the  pupil.  When  we  are 
in  the  dark,  it  is  very  large,  as  if  the  iris  shrunk 
back  in  order  to  let  as  many  rays  of  light  pass 
through  the  pupil,  to  the  optic  nerve,  at  the 
back  part  of  the  eye,  as  possible. 

All  the  rest  of  the  eye  ball,  besides  the 
coverings  which  I  have  described,  consists  of  a 
substance  which  I  told  you  had  some  resem- 
blance to  the  white  of  an  egg,  or  that  ropy  but 
clear  fluid  in  which  the  yolk  swims.  Anato- 
mists, however,  say  that  the  greater  part  of  it 
resembles  melted  glass,  which  I  suppose  few 
of  you  have  seen  ;  but  as  we  have  called  the 


THE    WINDOWS.  151 

eye  a  window,  the  comparison  is  a  very  happy 
one. 

The  edges  of  the  iris  or  curtain,  however, 
like  a  partition,  divide  this  glassy  liquor  into 
two  masses,  connected  only  at  the  pupil.  The 
part  of  it  which  is  before  the  iris  is  called  the 
aqueous  humor,  and  that  which  is  behind  it, 
and  which  is  many  times  the  largest,  the  vitre- 
ous humor. 

Just  behind  the  iris,  or  rather  exactly  behind 
the  pupil,  is  a  small  body,  clear  and  transpa- 
rent, like  the  rest  of  the  vitreous  humor,  but 
much  harder,  and  swimming,  as  it  were,  in  its 
midst,  without  ever  getting  out  of  its  place. 
It  is  called  the  crystalline  lens.  It  is  rounded 
or  convex  on  both  sides,  and  resembles  two 
watch  crystals,  with  their  hollow  or  concave 
sides  put  together. 

It  is  represented  in  the  engraving,  by  a  light 
spot,  which  you  cannot  fail  to  distinguish,  near 
the  fore  part  of  the  eye.  There  is  .a  kind  of 
disease  of  the  eye,  in  which  this  lens  turns 
whitish  ;  and  as  the  rays  of  light  can  no  longer 
pass  through  it,  the  person  becomes  blind. 
The  only  way  to  cure  it  is  for  the  surgeon  to 
pass  a  slender  needle  through  the  side  of  the 


152  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

eye,  and  push  this  hard,  dry,  dead  body  down- 
wards, or  to  one  side.  This  is  often  successful, 
and  the  process  is  attended  with  less  pain  than 
the  extraction  of  a  tooth. 

OPTIC  NERVE. — The  optic  nerve,  which  I 
mentioned  as  entering  at  the  back  part  of  the 
eye,  expands  or  spreads  itself  as  it  enters,  and 
this  is  called  the  retina.  The  rays  of  light, 
passing  through  the  fore  part  of  the  eye, — 1st, 
through  the  cornea,  2,  the  aqueous  humor, 
(part  of  which  lies  before,  and  part  behind  the 
pupil,)  3,  the  crystalline  lens,  and  4,  the 
vitreous  humor — strike  on  the  retina,  and  an 
image  or  picture  of  every  object  which  is  be- 
fore the  eye,  is  formed  on  the  retina,  inverted  ; 
that  is,  bottom  upwards.  Thus,  if  I  am  look- 
ing at  a  tree,  there  is  a  kind  of  image  or  shad- 
ow of  that  tree  on  the  retina  of  my  eye,  with 
the  bottom  upward.  Why  everything  which  we 
look  at  does  not  appear  to  us  inverted,  rather 
than  with  the  right  end  upwards,  is  not  known. 

THE  TEARS. — Washing  windows  is  often  a 
slow  and  troublesome  process,  but  there  is  a 
small  gland,  not  unlike  the  gland  which  fur- 


THE    WINDOWS.  153 

nishes  the  saliva  or  spittle,  only  much  smaller, 
over  the  top  of  each  eye,  from  which  flows  in 
small  quantity,  a  clear  liquid,  and  by  means 
of  the  eyelids,  operating  as  a  cloth  would  do, 
this  is  carried  over  the  whole  surface  of  the 
eye,  and  keeps  it  constantly  moist  and  clean. 
The  dirty  water  is  then  carried  off  through  a 
very  narrow  passage,  and  thrown  out  through 
a  pipe  or  duct  in  the  nose. 

The  little  gland,  over  the  eye,  is  called  the 
lachrymal  gland ;  the  liquor  which  it  furnishes 
to  wash  the  eye,  is  called  the  tears  ;  and  the 
tube  through  which  the  tears  escape  into  the 
nose,  is  called  the  lachrymal  duct. 

If  this  duct  gets  stopped,  as  not  unfrequently 
happens,  the  tears  overflow  the  eye  and  run 
down  on  the  cheek;  and  a  hollow  piece  of 
silver  is  sometimes  furnished  by  the  surgeon  to 
insert  in  the  duct  from  the  eye  to  the  nose,  to 
keep  it  open  and  furnish  a  passage  for  the 
tears. 

THE  EYELIDS. — The  eyelids  are  to  guard 
the  tender  eye  from  injury  in  various  ways. 

One  of  their  uses  is  to  keep  off  the  strong 
light  of  the  sun.  If  our  eyelids  were  cut  off, 


154  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

and  if  it  did  no  other  barm,  I  am  sure  we 
should  soon  become  blind.  Those  people  who 
let  the  full  blaze  of  a  candle,  or  lamp,  or 
bright  fire,  shine  on  their  eyes,  do  a  great  deal 
towards  making  themselves  blind  ;  but  they 
are  sometimes  a  great  many  years  in  finishing 
the  work. 

Another  use  of  the  eyelids  is  to  ward  off 
small  bodies  from  the  eyes,  as  sticks,  chips, 
stones,  &tc.  The  power  of  the  eye  is  wonder- 
ful in  this  respect.  It  will  sometimes  close  so 
swiftly  as  to  shut  out  an  object  which  could  not 
possibly  have  been  seen  ;  just  as  if  it  almost 
felt  it  coming  before  it  arrived.  It  does  not 
always  close  quickly  enough,  however;  for 
,  blacksmiths,  stone  cutters,  &tc.,  sometimes" 

have  their  eyes  more  or  less  injured, 

THE  EYEBROWS. — The  eyebrows  serve  as 
a  sort  of  defence  to  the  eye,  by  catching  a  part 
of  the  dust  that  would  otherwise  fall  into  them. 
Perhaps  they  may  have  other  uses  than  this, 
but  I  have  not  room  to  enlarge.  1  should  like 
to  describe  the  eyelashes,  and  mention  their 
uses,  and  also  speak  of  several  other  mem- 


THE    WINDOWS.  155 

branes,  vessels,  &c.,  connected  with  this  won- 
derful organ,  but  the  limits  of  a  work  like  this 
forbid. 

REFLECTIONS. — I  must  not  close  this  chap- 
ter without  noticing  the  place  in  which  the 
eye  is  situated.  Some  animals — as  the  snake, 
tortoise,  &c. — have  the  eyes  set  in  the  side,  or 
rather  in  the  tipper  part  of  the  head,  precisely 
where  they  are  wanted ;  for  they  have  no 
occasion  to  look  downward.  In  general,  those 
animals  that  cannot  move  the  eye  without 
moving  the  whole  body,  have  this  organ  more 
prominent,  and  more  to  the  side. 

But  man,  without  moving  his  body  at  all, 
can  move  his  head  in  such  a  manner  that 
though  the  eyes  are  fixed  in  the  front  part  of 
the  head,  and  in  a  deep  socket,  he  can  yet 
look  in  every  possible  direction.  All  things 
considered,  his  eyes  are  as  happily  placed  as 
those  of  any  other  known  animal :  and  they 
are  much  better  guarded  from  injury.  Their 
deep  bony  socket,  the  high  ridge  around  it, 
the  eyebrows,  the  eyelids,  the  eyelashes,  and 
lastly,  reason  to  direct  us  and  enable  us  to 


156  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

avoid  danger,  all  conspire  to  guard  the  "  apple 
of  the  eye,"  as  it  has  been  called,  with  great 
care ;  and  in  this  country  it  is  comparatively 
seldom  that  we  meet  with  a  person,  young  or 
old,  who  has  not  both  eyes  perfect. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  COVERING.— THE    DOORS. 

The  Ear.     The  Nose.     The  Mouth. 

THE  doors  of  the  house  I  live  in  are  the 
mouth,  ears,  nose,  &LC.  These  I  call  doors  for 
reasons  which  have  already  been  given,  and  for 
others  which  will  presently  be  seen. 

THE  EAR. — Some  account  of  this  has  been 
given  in  treating  of  the  bones.  The  reader 
has  already  been  told  that  it  is  made  for  the 
admission  of  sound ;  that  if  there  were  no  ear, 
we  could  hear  no  sounds ;  and  that  a  part  of 
this  curious  organ  lies  deep  in  the  bones  of  the 
head. 

There  are,  in  fact,  two  great  divisions  of 

the  human  ear ;  the  external  and  the  internal. 

The  external  ear  is  what  we  see  in  the  living 

individual ;  consisting  of  a  semi-circular  portion^ 

14 


158  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

spread  out,  the  shape  of  which  everybody 
knows ;  and  a  passage  in  the  middle,  leading 
into  the  head. 

The  external  ear,  which  we  see,  is  made 
of  gristle  or  cartilage,  covered  with  the  skin. 
It  is  concave,  for  the  collection  of  sound. 
Such  is  the  curious  structure  of  the  eye,  that 
the  rays  of  light,  from  all  directions,  are  col- 
lected into  a  very  small  point  in  the  hack  part 
of  it ;  and  in  like  manner,  such  is  the  structure 
of  the  external  ear,  that  sound  is  collected  by 
it  toward  the  passage,  in  the  centre. 

This  passage  is  lined  by  a  membrane  just 
like  the  skin,  except  that  it  is  a  little  thinner, 
the  little  bottles,  or  oil  glands,  are  more  numer- 
ous, and  the  oil  which  they  furnish  is  more 
bitter.  What  is  called  the  ear-wax  is  this 
oil,  dried  and  accumulated  in  large  quantities. 
Sometimes  it  has  been  known  to  accumulate  in 
such  hard  masses  and  of  such  a  size  as  to  make 
people  deaf.  There  was  lately  a  case  of  this 
kind  in  Boston.  Both  ears  were  in  this  condi- 
tion, but  one  was  much  worse  off  than  the  other. 

This  oil  or  wax  is  supposed  to  have  been 
made  bitter,  to  keep  flies  and  other  insects  from 
getting  into  the  ear.  These  insects  dislike  such 


THE    DOORS.      .  159 

bitter  substances.  There  is,  however,  less  dan- 
ger from  having  insects  get  into  the  ear  than  is 
commonly  supposed  ;  for  when  the  ear-drum, 
or  membrane  of  the  tympanum,  of  which  I 
have  spoken  in  another  place,  is  not  rup- 
tured, nothing  can  get  into  the  head  more  than 
three  quarters  of  an  inch,  and  could  easily  be 
pushed  or  washed  out. 

If  the  ears  are  washed  out  well  every  day, 
and  especially  if  they  are  syringed  out  often 
with  weak  soap-suds  and  water,  we  shall  sel- 
dom have  trouble,  either  from  the  collection  of 
wax  or  from  insects.  Cleanliness  is  almost 
everything — not  only  in  the  case  of  the  ear,  but 
of  all  parts  of  the  body. 

Beyond  the  drum  is  a  chamber,  called  by 
anatomists  the  cavity  of  the  tympanum.  In 
this  cavity  are  the  little  bones  which  I  have 
formerly  described.  Here  also  a  small  passage 
commences,  which  terminates  near  the  back 
part  of  the  nostrils.  The  use  of  this  passage 
from  the  inside  of  the  mouth  to  the  internal  ear 
is  not  very  well  known,  but  it  is  believed  to  be 
intended  principally  for  the  purpose  of  letting 
in  air,  in  order  that  the  pressure  on  both  sides 
of  the  drum  might  be  alike. 


160  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

Some  suppose  that  it  enables  us  to  hear  a 
little  through  the  mouth  ;  but  this  is  not  prob- 
able. If  we  hear  at  all  through  the  mouth,  it 
is  in  a  degree  scarcely  worth  mentioning. 

Near  the  hinder  part  of  this  cavity  of  the 
tympanum  there  is  also  an  opening  into  a  col- 
lection of  cells  in  the  bone.  The  bones  in 
•which  these  cells  are  situated  may  be  found 
quite  prominent  behind  the  ear.  The  use  of 
the  cells  is  not  very  well  known. 

Though  the  ear  is  to  be  considered  a  door 
of  the  human  habitation,  the  passage  in  it,  as 
we  have  seen,  is  usually  closed  by  the  ear 
drum.  The  door-way  for  everything  except 
sound,  would,  therefore,  be  more  properly 
through  the  mouth. 

Sometimes — we  know  not  how — the  drum 
membrane  gets  broken.  Men  have  been 
found,  for  example,  who  could  force  tobacco 
smoke,  held  in  their  mouth,  out  at  their  ears. 
This  proves  that  the  membrane  in  question 
must  have  had  a  hole  in  it.  I  do  not  know 
that  this  affects  the  hearing  very  much.  It  is 
true  it  requires  us  to  be  more  cautious  what 
we  get  into  our  ears,  for  if  substances  get 
beyond  the  ear  drum  quite  into  the  cavity  of 


THE    BOORS.  161 

the  tympanum,  they  will  produce  inflamma- 
tion ;  and  in  the  end,  perhaps,  cause  deafness 
or  death. 

I  wish  I  had  room  to  tell  you  more  about 
this  cavity  of  the  ear,  and  indeed  about  the 
whole  organ  of  hearing ;  for  it  is  a  curious 
organ.  But  all  I  can  say  now,  is  a  few  words 
about  the  labyrinth. 

This  is  a  large  cavity  still  deeper  in  the 
head  than  the  foregoing,  and,  if  possible,  still 
morevcurious  in  its  structure. 

The  middle  part  of  the  cavity  is  called  the 
vestibule.  It  is  somewhat  oval  in  shape.  At 
one  end  of  it  are  three  tubes,  each  of  which  is 
so  bent  or  curved  as  to  form  almost  a  circle. 
They  open  into  the  vestibule,  and  are  called 
semi-circular  canals. 

At  the  other  end  of  the  vestibule  is  a  tube 
of  a  conical  shape,  but  resembling,  on  its  out- 
side, the  shell  of  a  snail.  It  is  called  the 
cochlea.  This  also  opens  into  the  vestibule. 

The  little  bones  of  the  ear  are  connected 

with  the  ear  drum  on   one  side,  and   with   the 

parts  of  the  labyrinth  just  described  on  the 

other.     The  labyrinth,  in  all  its  parts,  is  most 

14* 


162 


THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 


intimately  connected  with  the  brain ;  and  some 
of  these  very  parts  themselves  seem  almost 
like  brain.  They  contain  a  tremulous  jelly- 
like  substance,  among  which  those  branches  of 
the  brain  which  we  call  the  nerves  of  the  ear 
are  very  thickly  interspersed. 

It  is  desirable  in  closing  this  chapter,  to  give 
you  one  view  of  the  ear,  both  external  and 
internal,  Here  it  is. 


H 


THE    DOORS.  163 

In  this  engraving,  A  represents  the  tube  or 
passage  leading  to  the  ear  drum  ;  B,  the  ear 
drum,  or  tympanum ;  c,  the  passage  from  the 
ear  to  the  throat ;  D  E  F  G,  the  little  bones  of 
the  ear ;  i,  the  semi-circular  canals  in  the  ear  -y 
j,  the  vestibule  ;  and  K,  the  cochlea.  H  refers 
to  a  little  opening. 

THE  NOSE. — This  is  a  more  important  door 
of  the  human  habitation  than  many  suppose. 
All  or  nearly  all  animal  and  vegetable  bodies 
are  constantly  sending  off  small  particles,  the 
quality  of  which,  when  they  are  received  at  the 
nose,  in  its  natural  state,  can  in  general  be  easily 
detected. 

This  is  undoubtedly  one  great  purpose  of 
this  orgaji,  and  especially  of  its  curious  internal 
structure.  For  in  order  that  we  may  detect 
the  nature  of  the  bodies  whose  particles  the  air 
is  constantly  full  of,  the  inside  of  this  organ  of 
smell  is  very  extensive. 

1.  The  bones,  in  some  places,  project  into 
the  nose,  like  large  but  irregular  shelves. 

2.  There  is  a  hollow  cavity  in  each   cheek 
bone,  which  will  hold  about  half  an  ounce,  and 


164  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

which  has  a  communication  with  the  inside  of 
the  nose. 

3.  There  are  also  cavities  in  the  forehead, 
at  the  top  of  the  nose,  between  the  eyes, 
which  communicate,  in  like  manner,  with  the 
cavity  of  the  nose. 

Over  this  extensive  internal  surface,  viz.  the 
whole  inside  of  the  nose,  the  surface  of  the 
projections  or  shelves,  and  the  inside  of  the 
cavities  in  the  cheek  bone  and  forehead,  a  fine 
delicate  membrane  is  spread  ;  and  over  a  great 
part  of  this  membrane,  little  nerves  are  dis- 
tributed, by  means  of  which  we  smell.  For  I 
wish  to  say  again,  once  for  all,  that  we  cannot 
have  feeling  or  sensation,  in  the  eye,  in  the  ear, 
in  the  nose,  or  anywhere  else,  without  the  aid  of 
these  little  branches  of  the  brain,  called  nerves. 
And  it  helps  us  about  smelling,  that  the  parti- 
cles of  bodies  in  the  air  \ve  breathe,  are  diffused 
over  such  a  large  surface  as  I  have  mentioned. 

I  have  more  than  intimated  that  in  a  natural 
state  of  the  organ  of  smell,  it  could  detect  all 
substances  which  were  likely  to  prove  inju- 
rious. This,  though  very  probable,  cannot  be 
fully  proved.  Other  animals,  we  know,  can  in 
general  tell  what  will  injure  them,  by  its  smell ; 


'THE    DOORS.  165 

and  we  can  do  so  in  regard  to  very  many 
things  ;  and  they  can  oftenest  do  this,  whose 
stnell  is  most  perfect.  There  is>  therefore, 
great  reason  for  believing  that,  did  we  not 
early  accustom  our  noses  to  the  smell  of 
strange  mixtures — for  almost  everything  we 
eat  is  some  unnatural  if  not  unwholesome  mix- 
ture— we  could  distinguish  by  their  smell  those 
things  which  are  hurtful ;  at  least  in  most  in- 
stances. 

However  this  may  be,  one  thing  is  certain  ; 
which  is,  that  trained  as  we  now  are,  in  regard 
to  eating  and  drinking,  it  would  be  very  strange 
indeed  if  the  sense  of  smell  should  long  retain 
its  original  integrity. 

The  extensive  cavity  of  the  nose  has  another 
use  besides  favoring  the  sense  of  smell.  If  we 
hold  our  nose,  and  speak,  or  sing,  we  find 
the  sound  greatly  altered,  and  rendered  quite 
disagreeable.  One  intention  of  the  nose, 
therefore,  like  those  hollow  bodies  in  some 
ancient  buildings,  placed  over  the  head  of  the 
speaker,  and  called  sounding  boxes,  is  to  modify 
and  improve  the  voice. 

How  poorly  the  nose  sometimes  answers 
this  purpose,  is  best  seen  in  those  individuals 


166  THE    HOUSE    1    LIVE    IN. 

who  dry  up  the  nasal  membrane  with  snuff,  or 
make  the  nose  a  chimney  for  tobacco  smoke — 
purposes  for  which  we  may  be  very  sure  they 
were  never  designed  by  the  Creator,  and  to 
which  well  informed  people  would  not  be  apt 
to  apply  them. 

THE  MOUTH. — This  is,  in  many  respects, 
the  more  important  door  of  the  human  frame. 
For  if  the  nose  should  cease  to  perform  its 
office,  we  could  supply  its  place,  in  some 
measure,  by  the  eye,  the  ears,  and  the  touch. 
The  same  is  true  of  the  ear,  and  even  of  the 
eye.  But  if  the  mouth  were  to  fail — if  this 
door  were  closed  forever — there  is  no  substi- 
tute. We  may  indeed  receive  a  part  of  the 
supplies  necessary  to  our  existence  (I  mean 
air)  through  the  nose  ;  but  a  far  greater  part 
could  not  be  received  even  in  this  way  ;  and 
our  frame  would  soon  decay,  and  mingle  with 
its  kindred  dust. 

I  have  never  known  but  one  instance  in 
which  an  effectual  substitute  for  the  mouth 
was  provided.  Several  years  ago,  a  young  Ca- 
nadian by  the  name  of  Alexis  St.  Martin  was 
wounded,  in  the  army,  by  a  ball  which  shot 


THE    DOORS.  167 

away  a  part  of  the  flesh  of  the  side  and 
stomach.  When  he  recovered,  an  opening 
was  left  somewhat  like  the  mouth  of  a  purse, 
directly  from  his  left  side  into  the  stomach. 
So  complete  was  this  artificial  mouth,  that 
though  it  was  very  tender,  food  and  drink 
could  be  introduced  into  it  through  a  pipe  ;  and 
if  care  were  used,  it  could  be  done  without  pain. 
The  contents  of  the  stomach — the  fluid  con-- 
tents  at  least — which  had  been  swallowed  by 
the  mouth,  could  also  be  taken  out  at  any  time. 

I  have  seen  Alexis  once  myself;  and  have 
witnessed  the  things  which  I  state.  But  this 
is  a  solitary  case  ;  and  I  do  not  know  that 
any  other  case  of  the  kind  ever  existed  or  ever 
will  exist  again. 

The  particular  structure  of  the  mouth — 
curious  as  it  is — is  so  well  known,  that  it  does 
not  seem  to  require  a  particular  description, 
under  this  head.  When  I  come  to  speak  of 
the  apartments,  and  especially  of  the  furniture 
and  employments  of  the  house  I  live  in,  I 
shall  have  occasion  to  say  more  about  it.  It 
was  only  necessary  to  mention  it  here  as  a  part 
of  the  covering,  and  for  the  sake  of  method. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


APARTMENTS  AND  FURNITURE. 

General  Remarks.  The  External  Ear. 
Chambers  of  the  Nose.  The  Mouth,  inter- 
nally. The  Salivary  Glands.  Passages 
to  the  Ear.  The  Chest.  Cavity  of  the 
Lungs.  The  Food  Pipe.  The  Stomach. 
The  Intestines.  Gall  Bladder,  fyc.  The 
Abdomen.  The  Apartment  of  the  Circu- 
lation. Chambers  of  the  Brain. 

GENERAL  REMARKS. — There  are  two  kinds 
of  apartments  in  the  house  of  the  soul.  One 
of  these  is  connected  with  outside  doors  ;  the 
other  is  not.  Both  are  numerous,  and  both 
are  important.  I  will  begin  with  a  description 
of  the  former ;  and  occasionally  speak,  as  I  go 
along,  of  some  of  the  latter. 

In  many  houses  a  broad  space  or  hall 
extends  through  from  the  door  in  front  to  the 


APARTMENTS    AND    FURNITURE.  169 

back  side  of  the  building.  This  space  is  not 
always  either  uniform  or  regular.  Sometimes 
— and  indeed  usually — if  the  house  has  more 
than  one  story,  it  contains  a  stairway  ;  and 
sometimes  it  includes  a  closet,  or  a  room  for 
other  purposes.  Doors  also  in  the  sides  of  this 
hall  connect  it  with  other  apartments. 

Now  the  house  I  live  in  is  constructed  very 
much  on  the  same  general  plan,  except  that,  as 
I  told  you  in  reference  to  the  frame,  there  is  no 
square  work  about  it.  The  beauty  of  the  inter- 
nal parts  of  a  common  dwelling  house  depends 
very  much  on  its  straight  lines,  upright  walls,  and 
horizontal  floors  and  ceilings ;  but  the  beauty 
of  the  habitation  of  the  human  soul  consists,  on 
the  contrary,  in  curved  lines.  Not  an  apart- 
ment can  be  found,  in  good  order,  in  which 
you  can  trace  a  single  straight  line. 

But  there  is  another  difference  which  is  still 
more  essential.  Tl]e  same  kind  of  covering 
which  is  applied  to  the  house  I  live  in,  is  also 
applied  to  form  the  covering — or  perhaps 
you  would  say  the  lining — of  the  sides  of  the 
space  or  hall  I  have  spoken  of,  as  well  as  of 
all  its  apartments ;  except  that  it  is  thinner, 
15 


170  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

more  neatly  wrought,  and  without  much  pig- 
ment or  paint.  Whereas  you  know  it  is 
seldom,  if  ever,  that  you  can  see  the  inside  of 
any  part  of  a  wooden  house  shingled  or  clap- 
boarded.  We  should  laugh  outright,  to  see 
the  walls  of  a  beautiful  parlor  or  bed-room 
shingled. 

There  is  one  more  essential  and  important 
difference.  The  rooms  in  many  dwellings  are 
often  partly  or  wholly  empty  ;  or  at  least  there  is 
nothing  in  them  except  a  small  quantity  of  furni- 
ture and  air.  But  except  a  few  very  small  and 
not  very  important  apartments,  all  the  rooms  of 
the  house  I  live  in  are  completely  filled.  Such 
a  thing  as  empty  space  is  hardly  known  there. 
The  furniture,  or  whatever  is  in  them,  at  all 
times  completely  fills  them  ;  for  when  anything 
is  removed  from  them,  their  walls  are  accus- 
tomed to  shrink  accordingly ;  and  when  any- 
thing is  introduced  into  them,  these  walls  have 
the  power  of  gradually  yielding  so  as  greatly 
to  increase  the  capacity  of  the  apartments. 

It  is  true  that  the  furniture,  &c.,  in  each 
room,  does  not  so  entirely  fill  it  as  not  to  leave 
place  for  air;  for  as  I  have  already  said,  all  the 


APARTMENTS    AND    FURNITURE.  171 

kind  of  rooms  of  which  I  am  now  treating, 
have  communication  with  the  open  air,  in  such 
a  way  that  the  air,  in  small  quantity,  can,  and 
probably  does  reach  them  ;  and  much  more  of 
it  would  reach  them,  were  they  not  so  closely 
filled  as  to  prevent  its  admittance. 

But  it  is  time  for  me  to  speak  of  these 
apartments  with  more  particularity.  I  have  al- 
ready shown  you  that  all  the  cavities,  or  passa- 
ges in  the  human  body  which  open  to  the  air, 
such  as  the  ears,  nose,  mouth,  &c.,  are  lined 
with  a  membrane  almost  exactly  like  the  skin, 
only  thinner.  It  has  its  thick  layer,  or  real 
skin,  on  a  thin  cellular  layer ;  then  its  soft  thin 
layer  of  pigment  or  paint,  if  this  has  any  exist- 
ence beyond  the  commencement  of  the  open- 
ings, say  at  the  edge  of  the  lips ;  *  then,  and 
lastly,  its  cuticle. 

This  membrane  is  not  called  skin,  however, 
except  on  the  surface.  Its  usual  name  is  mucous 
membrane,  because  it  everywhere  secretes  on  its 


*  Anatomists  are  not  agreed  on  this  point.  The 
general  opinion  is,  that  this  membrane  which  con- 
tains the  color  does  not  exist  at  all  in  the  internal 
cavities  of  the  body. 


THE    HOUSE    1    LIVE    IN. 

surface  more  or  less  oT  a  substance  which  is 
called  mucus. 

EXTERNAL  EAR. — The  passage  into  the  ear, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  is  lined  with  this 
membrane.  But  this  passage  or  cavity  is  so 
small  that  it  can  hardly  be  called  an  apartment. 
The  cavities  connected  with  the  nose  are  of 
much  more  consequence. 

CHAMBERS  OF  THE  NOSE. — These,  as  we 
have  seen,  are — 1.  The  hollow  but  very  irreg- 
ular passage  of  the  nose  itself.  2.  The  cavity 
in  each  cheek  bone.  3.  The  cavity  in  the 
forehead,  or  on  each  side  of  the  root  of  the 
nose.  All  these  cavities  are  real  cavities  ;  for 
they  are  situated  in  hollows  in  the  bones,  and 
therefore  their  sides  cannot  fall  together  and 
close  up  the  space. 

All  these  cavities,  moreover,  become  in  some 
cases  the  seat  of  painful  diseases.  The  nose 
is  subject  to  the  polypus — a  pear-shaped  swell- 
ing with  a  narrow  neck.  This  sometimes 
renders  our  breathing  difficult ;  and  if  not  ex- 
tracted, has  been  known  to  go  farther,  and  be- 


APARTMENTS    AND    FURNITURE.          173 

come  the  means  of  destroying  life.     Even  if  it 
is  extracted,  it  is  very  apt  to  grow  again. 

Painful  diseases  also  occasionally  arise  in  the 
cavity  of  the  cheek.  These  are  sometimes 
mistaken  for  tooth-ache.  The  extraction  of  the 
tooth  which  appears  to  cause  the  pain,  unless 
its  roots  extend  through,  quite  into  the  cavity, 
affords,  in  such  cases,  no  permanent  relief. 

Some  kinds  of  head-ache  probably  have  their 
seat  in  the  hollows  of  the  frontal  or  forehead 
bone,  near  the  root  of  the  nose.  A  very  com- 
mon disease  in  sheep,  is  known  to  be  produced 
by  worms  in  these  hollows.  The  dull,  heavy 
pain  so  often  felt  over  the  eyes,  especially  when 
we  have  what  is  commonly  called  a  cold  in  the 
head,  may  be  owing  to  a  slight  inflammation  of 
the  membranes  of  this  cavity. 

People  ought  to  be  careful  about  smelling 
things  which  give  them  much  pain.  Probably 
the  use  of  most  of  our  smelling  bottles  is  injuri- 
ous, in  the  end,  to  the  delicate  lining  of  all  these 
"  rooms  "  connected  with  the  nose.  Snuff  cer- 
tainly is,  and  so  is  the  smoking  of  tobacco, 
cigars  and  opium — so  common  in  some  coun- 
tries. 

15  *  •'"* 


174  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

"  Naturalists  say  there  is  one  species  of  mag- 
got-fly that  mistakes  the  odor  of  some  kinds  of 
snuff,  for  that  of  putrid  substances,  and  depos- 
its its  eggs  in  it.  In  warm  weather,  therefore, 
it  must  be  dangerous  to  take  snuff  which  has 
been  exposed  to  these  insects  ;  for  the  eggs 
sometimes  hatch  in  two  hours,  and  the  most 
tremendous  consequences  might  follow."  * 

THE  MOUTH,  INTERNALLY. — The  mouth,  of 
itself,  is  one  of  the  apartments  of  the  human 
body,  and  a  very  curious  apartment  too.  When 
I  spoke  of  it  as  one  of  the  doors,  I  referred  prin- 
cipally to  the  aperture  formed  by  a  cleft  of  the 
lips,  or  the  external  mouth ;  and  not  to  the 
internal,  or  more  important  part. 

In  this  chamber — the  entrance  chamber  of 
the  front  door — we  find  the  teeth,  the  tongue, 
the  palate,  and  several  little  glands.  This  en- 
trance chamber  is  larger  than  the  hall  or  space 
beyond  it.  Doors  also  open  from  it  into  sev- 
eral other  apartments. 


*  See  «  Young  Man's  Guide,"  p.  191. 


APARTMENTS    AND    FURNITURE.          175  . 

THE  SALIVARY  GLANDS. — The  first  of  these 
doors  are  very  small.  They  are  on  the  inside 
of  each  cheek,  nearly  opposite  to  the  smaller 
double  teeth.  They  lead  through  a  very  nar- 
row passage,  scarcely  bigger  than  a  straw,  to 
the  chambers  where  a  large  part  of  the  saliva 
or  spittle  is  secreted  or  made,  which  is  just  back 
of  the  hinderrnost  part  of  the  jaw  bone,  and  just 
below  the  ear. 

These  chambers  are  neither  large  nor  regu- 
lar. Indeed,  they  scarcely  deserve  the  name 
of  chambers,  any  more  than  do  those  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  socket  of  the  eye,  of  which  I 
have  already  spoken,  and  which  secrete  the 
tears. 

Under  the  tongue  and  partly  before  it,  are 
the  doors  of  passages,  still  shorter  and  smaller 
than  those  I  have  just  mentioned,  and  leading 
to  apartments  of  still  less  importance.  They 
are,  however,  for  the  same  purpose;  that  of 
secreting  the  saliva. 

PASSAGES  TO  THE  EAR. — Farther  oh,  in  the 
upper  and  back  part  of  the  mouth,  are  two 
doors  of  considerable  size,  connecting  with  the 


176  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

chambers  of  the  nose  ;  and  in  the  same  region 
begin  the  passages  which  lead  to  the  middle 
cavity  of  the  ear  which  has  been  already  men- 
tioned, called  the  tympanum.  I  have  said 
enough  about  these  various  apartments  in  an- 
other place. 

A  little  behind  the  roof  of  the  tongue,  is  an 
opening,  whose  structure  has  a  strong  resem- 
blance to  what  is  usually  called  a  trap  door.  It 
leads  to  the  lungs  or  breathing  apparatus,  occu- 
pying a  very  large  upper  apartment  of  the  body. 
This  is  one  of  the  most  curious  parts  of  the  hu- 
man system.  No  real  gate  or  door,  set  on  hinges, 
and  guarded  by  an  active  and  intelligent  porter, 
would  better  answer  its  intended  purpose. 

I  have  said  that  there  is  a  strong  resemblance 
here  to  a  trap  door.  The  passage  to  the  lungs, 
where  it  commences,  is  a  mere  slit ;  though  it 
is  true  it  very  soon  becomes  larger.  Over  this 
slit  is  placed  a  lid  or  flap,  not  unlike  the  tongue 
in  shape,  but  of  course  much  smaller,  which  fits 
to  the  opening  as  exactly  as  ever  a  trap  door 
was  fitted  to  its  door-way. 

It  is  not  usually  shut,  however,  except  when 
we  attempt  to  swallow  something.  Then  the 


APARTMENTS    AND    FURNITURE.  177 

substance  we  swallow,  and  the  motion  of  swal- 
lowing, press  it  down  and  close  it  tightly. 
And  it  is  well  that  it  is  so ;  for  if  it  were  not, 
the  substances  which  we  swallow  would  often 
drop  into  the  passage  to  which  this  trap  door 
opens,  and  cause  us  great  trouble. 

THE  CHEST. — Beyond  the  door,  the  pas- 
sage greatly  enlarges,  and  proceeds  downwards 
into  the  chest,  the  large  apartment  which  I  have 
just  mentioned.  This  apartment  is  one  of  the 
largest  in  the  house  I  live  in,  and  nearly  fills 
the  upper  story.  It  is  one  of  the  kind  which 
has  no  outer  doors,  neither  is  it  connected  with 
any  other  cavity  or  apartment.  It  is  supported 
on  all  sides  by  strong  bony  walls ;  the  breast 
bone  in  front,  the  back  bone  behind,  and  the 
ribs  at  the  sides.  Above,  at  the  fore  part  of  the 
neck,  it  is  of  course  less  guarded  with  bone ; 
and  at  the  bottom  there  are  no  bones  at  all.  It 
is  separated  from  the  apartments  of  the  second 
or  lower  story,  by  a  strong  skin  or  membrane 
called  the  diaphragm  or  midriff. 

CAVITY  OF  THE  LUNGS. — The  trap  door,  of 
which  I  have  spoken,  does  not  lead  directly  into 


178  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

this  large  apartment,  but  only  into  a  bag  or 
sack,  called  the  lungs,  which  lies  in  it,  and  fills 
it ;  and  is  divided  into  two  portions,  one  on  the 
right  side  and  the  other  on  the  left.  The  pas- 
sage from  the  doorway  at  the  top  of  the  throat 
into  the  lungs,  is  at  first  considerably  large,  and 
may  be  both  felt  and  seen  at  the  top  of  the 
throat.  It  appears,  at  first  view,  to  be  a  long 
bony  tube,  but  it  is  not  so.  It  is  made  of  firm 
cartilage,  almost  as  hard  as  bene.  As  soon, 
however,  as  it  gets  fairly  within  the  cavity  of 
the  chest,  it  ceases  to  be  cartilage,  and  becomes 
nothing  more  than  common  membrane. 

The  passage  now  divides  into  two,  like  the 
trunk  of  a  tree  when  it  divides  into  two 
branches.  One  of  these  smaller  passages  goes  to 
the  right  side  of  the  lungs,  the  other  to  the  left. 
Soon  each  of  these  parts  divide  again ;  then 
those  branches  subdivide ;  and  it  is  not  long 
before  the  branches  become  as  numerous  as  the 
limbs  of  the  thickest  tree  top  you  ever  saw ; 
and  indeed  much  more  so.  And  what  makes 
them  appear  thicker  than  they  really  are,  is  the 
ten  thousand  little  cells,  like  innumerable  small 
berries  among  the  limbs  of  a  tree  or  shrub,  which 
are  everywhere  interspersed  ;  for  every  one  of 


APARTMENTS    AND    FURNITURE.  179 

the  smallest  passages,  into  which  the  larger  pas- 
sages lead,  terminates  in  a  little  hollow  cell. 
Some  of  the  cells  are  indeed  larger  than  others, 
but  they  are  all  very  minute,  so  much  so  that 
many  anatomists  formerly  doubted  their  ex- 
istence. 

The  most  correct  resemblance  of  these  pas- 
sages and  cells  or  little  rooms  would,  in  my 
opinion,  be  a  very  thick  branch  of  some  shrub, 
very  full  of  the  minutest  berries  you  can  con- 
ceive of,  and  without  leaves.  But  you  must 
not. forget  to  think  of  the  shrub  as  hollow  through 
all  its  branches  and  twigs  quite  into  the  cells, 
and  as  divested  of  its  leaves. 

This,  however,  you  are  to  remember,  will 
not  give  you  a  correct  idea  of  the  whole  lungs, 
but  only  of  the  little  tubes  and  cells  for  carry- 
ing and  holding  air. 

In  order  to  make  the  shrub,  in  the  case 
above  mentioned,  look  like  real  lungs,  I  must 
cut  the  extremities  of  the  twigs,  till  I  bring  the 
bush  into  the  right  shape ;  then  I  must  inter- 
weave something  like  spiders'  web  or  cotton 
among  all  its  branches,  &c.,  and  thus  fill  up 
all  the  space ;  and  lastly,  I  must  cover  the 
whole  with  a  pale  red,  but  very  thin  covering. 


180  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN, 

Thus  you  see  that  the  trap  door  at  the  top 
of  the  throat,  opens  into  a  large  passage  which 
divides  and  subdivides  almost  without  end;  and 
leads  into  as  many  little  rooms  or  cells  as 
there  are  of  its  numerous  subdivisions;  and  that 
this  whole  mass,  the  lungs,  fills  up  one  very 
large  room  which  has  no  door  or  opening. 

THE  FOOD  PIPE. — The  back  part  of  the 
mouth,  where  the  food  pipe  or  passage  to 
the  stomach  commences,  is  funnel-shaped  ;  but 
the  passage  or  food  pipe  itself  is  pretty  regu- 
lar in  its  shape.  It  proceeds  along  down  near 
the  back  bone  till  it  has  fairly  passed  the 
apartment  of  the  chest,  and  enters  the  borders 
of  the  great  apartment  below  it,  occupying  the 
second  or  lower  story  of  the  building.  When 
it  reaches  the  confines  of  this  apartment,  the 
passage  enlarges  into  a  spacious  saloon.  This 
is  the  stomach. 

THE  STOMACH. — The  human  stomach  some- 
what resembles,  in  shape,  the  bag  of  the  Scot- 
tish instrument  of  music  called  the  bag-pipe. 
It  lies  directly  across  the  body  just  under  the 
edge  of  the  ribs,  and  in  such  close  contact  with 


APARTMENTS    AND    FURNITURE. 


181 


the  diaphragm  or  floor  of  the  apartment  which 
contains  the  lungs,  that  the  latter  seem  to 

O     ' 

rest  directly  upon  it.  The  place  where  the 
food  pipe  enters  it  is  called  the  cardiac  ori- 
fice, and  the  termination  or  outlet  of  this 
spacious  saloon  is  called  the  pylorus  or  pyloric 
orifice.  The  meaning  of  the  word  cardiac  is 
not  of  much  consequence  ;  the  word  pylorus 
will  be  explained  hereafter. 


In  this  representation  of  the  human  stomach, 
the  letter  a  represents  the  lower  part  of  the 


16 


182  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

gullet  or  food  pipe,  c,  the  lerft  or  large  ex- 
tremity, d,  the  end  or  small  extremity,  and 
e,  the  pylorus.  The  stomach  of  an  adult  will 
hold,  when  moderately  stretched,  about  two  or 
three  pints. 

THE  INTESTINES. — Beyond  the  stomach, 
the  passage  through  the  house,  I  live  in,  though 
exceedingly  winding,  is  rather  more  uniform  in 
its  dimensions  than  it  is  before  we  arrive  at  the 
stomach.  But  even  here  the  size  varies.  Im- 
mediately after  leaving  the  stomach,  the  space, 
though  at  first  rather  large,  rapidly  diminishes, 
and  becomes  and  remains  small  till  we  get 
more  than  -three  quarters  of  the  way  through, 
when  it  again  enlarges,  and  continues  enlarged 
to  the  extremity. 

The  distance  from  the  mouth  to  the  extrem- 
ity, through  all  the  windings  of  this  avenue, 
varies  somewhat  in  different  persons ;  but  may 
be  set  down  as  about  six  times  the  height  of 
the  individual. 

GALL  BLADDER. — Not  far  beyond  the 
stomach  is  an  opening  or  door  leading  through 


APARTMENTS    AND    FURNITURE.  183 

a  duct  to  the  gall  bladder  and  liver.  The 
chambers  of  these  two  organs  are  little  more 
spacious  than  those  of  the  glands  already 
spoken  of  which  secrete  the  saliva.  The  gall 
bladder  may  be  as  large  as  a  man's  thumb,  or 
sometimes  larger.  In  the  same  neighborhood 
is  the  pancreas  or  sweet  bread,  between  which 
and  the  main  passage  through  the  body  there 
is  also  a  communication. 

ABDOMEN. — In  this  lower  story  of  the  house 
I  live  in — the  abdomen — there  are  several 
other  apartments  besides  those  I  have  already 
described,  some  of  which  open  externally,  and 
others  do  not.  But  I  must  now  describe 
another  class  of  apartments  : — those  which  do 
not  have  communication  with  the  air. 

One  of  these  has  already  been  mentioned  : 
it  is  the  cavity  of  the  chest.  Another  is  the 
cavity  of  the  cranium,  or  bones  of  the  head. 
Another  still  is  in  the  central  part  of  the  brain 
or  contents  of  the  cranium.  The  last,  but  most 
curious  and  most  important  which  I  shall  de- 
scribe, is  the  great  cavity  of  the  circulation ;  I 
mean  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood. 


184  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

APARTMENT  OF  THE  CIRCULATION. — This 
is  a  larger  apartment  than  many  would  at  first 
suppose.  It  must  of  course  be  large,  to 
contain,  as  it  does,  twelve  or  fifteen  quarts  of 
blood.  It  is  like  the  hollow  channels  of  two 
great  underground  rivers,  formed  by  the  union 
of  ten  thousand  thousand  larger  or  smaller 
(but  most  of  them  very  small)  streams,  running 
side  by  side  with  each  other,  but  never  inter- 
mingling their  contents.  As  they  have  no 
communication  with  each  other  in  their  course, 
so  they  have  no  outlet — at  least  none  of  any 
considerable  size. 

To  talk  here  about  the  circulation  of  blood, 
when  my  professed  object  is  to  describe  a 
chamber,  may  to  many  seem  out  of  place ;  but 
to  me,  it  appears  indispensable.  For  such  is 
the  irregularity  of  this  circulatory  apartment, 
that  it  is  next  to  impossible  to  describe  it,  in 
any  other  way  than  by  telling  you  something 
of  its  course  and  contents.  But  I  will  be  very 
short. 

You  may  first  think  of  all  these  streams  as 
if  they  were  filled  with  blood ;  and  afterward, 
as  if  emptied  of  their  blood,  and  hollow.  In 


APARTMENTS    AND    FURNITURE.  185 

the  latter  case,  if  a  quantity  of  liquid,  such  as 
water,  or  melted  wax,  or  even  blood,  were 
thrown  into  the  cavities  of  the  heart  by  means 
of  a  syringe,  and  if  considerable  effort  were 
made,  the  liquid  thrown  in  would  soon  run 
into  all  the  large  and  small  branches  of  this 
hollow  river  channel,  or  apartment,  and  fill  it 
entirely  ;  and  the  amount  it  would  contain,  as 
I  have  before  intimated,  would  be  in  an  adult 
equal  to  three  or  four  gallons.  Or  to  make  it 
perfectly  plain  to  all,  it  would  be  equal  to  a 
common  sized  pail  full. 

Thus  you  see  that  though  the  apartment 
of  the  circulation  is  strangely  irregular,  it  is 
nevertheless  a  very  spacious  apartment  ;  al- 
most if  not  quite  equal  to  the  whole  cavity 
of  the  chest,  in  which  the  lungs  and  heart  are 
placed  ;  and  not  much  inferior  in  point  of  size, 
to  the  cavity  below  it,  or  that  of  the  abdomen. 

But  I  must  tell  you  here — for  I  can  now  do 
it — something  more  of  that  part  of  the  circula- 
tory apartment  which  lies  in  the  heart  itself,  or 
in  what  may  be  called  the  little  sea  or  lake  into 
which  all  these  subterranean  rivers  constantly 
pour  their  various  crimson  floods. 
16* 


186  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

The  heart  has  really  four  cavities  in  it,  two 
on  the  right  side  and  two  on  the  left.  The 
blood  which  has  been  sent  out  into  all  parts  of 
the  body  through  the  arteries,  returns  to  the 
first  or  upper  part  of  the  right  side,  and  then 
passes  through  into  the  right  ventricle.  As 
soon  as  this  ventricle  is  full,  it  contracts,  and 
presses  its  contents,  the  blood,  into  a  great 
artery,  called  the  pulmonary  artery,  which 
carries  it  to  all  parts  of  the  lungs,  whence  it 
comes  back  into  the  left  side  of  the  heart ;  first 
into  the  left  auricle,  and  next  into  the  left  ven- 
tricle. From  the  latter  it  is  pressed,  when 
the  heart  contracts,  into  the  great  artery,  or 
aorta,  and  sent  all  over  the  body. 

These  four  smaller  cavities  or  chambers, 
taken  together,  hold,  in  an  adult,  about  two  or 
three  ounces  of  blood :  or  something  more 
than  half  a  gill.  The  length  of  an  adult  heart, 
measured  on  the  outside,  is  about  five  inches. 
We  m,ay  say,  in  general  terms,  that  it  is  about 
the  size  of  a  man's  fist. 

A  great  deal  more  might  be  said  about  the 
heart — its  cavities,  structure,  motion,  situation, 
&c.,  but  1  have  said  all  that  is  necessary  in 


APARTMENTS    AND    FURNITURE.  187 

order  to  give  a  general  idea  of  the  circulatory 
apartment. 

CHAMBERS  OF  THE  BRAIN. — Before  I  de- 
scribe these  I  shall  be  obliged  to  say  something 
more  about  the  brain  itself,  though  I  have  partly 
described  it  at  page  39. 

Here  is  a  picture  of  the  bones  of  the  cranium 
— those  which  hold  the  brain.  It  is  the  same 
picture  which  you  saw  at  page  74,  but  for  con- 
venience' sake  I  have  introduced  it  again  in 
this  place. 


When  I  was  a  boy  and  heard  about  the 
brain,  I  used  to  wonder  in  what  part  of  the 
head  it  was  situated.  I  had  seen  the  brain  of 
several  domestic  animals,  such  as  the  ox,  the 
calf,  the  swine,  and  the  lamb  ;  and  as  these 


188  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

appear  to  occupy  only  a  small  part  of  the  head  ? 
I  concluded  that  the  human  brain  did  not. 
Some  person,  as  ignorant  as  myself,  told  me 
that  my  brains  lay  in  my  forehead  ;  and  this 
opinion  I  grew  up  with.  But  since  I  became 
a  man,  I  found  out  that  they  extend  farther. 

The  color  and  general  appearance  of  the 
human  brain  is  not  unlike  those  of  domestic 
animals,  but  it  is  a  great  deal  larger.  Man  has 
a  larger  brain,  in  proportion  to  his  body,  than 
almost  any  other  known  animal. 

To  give  you  a  more  accurate  idea  of  its 
exact  size,  however,  just  take  a  piece  of  twine 
and  tie  it  round  your  head  from  the  bottom 
of  the  eye-brows  or  edge  of  the  forehead  to 
the  nape  of  the  neck,  letting  it  come  down 
close  behind  the  root  of  the  ear.  Now  all 
above  this  string,  except  the  skull  itself,  and 
the  skin,  flesh,  hair,  &c.,  is  brain  :  and  the 
whole  covering,  bone,  flesh,  skin,  &c.,  can 
hardly  be  more  than  half  an  inch  thick,  in  the 
thickest  part,  and  in  some  places  scarce  a 
quarter  of  an  inch  thick  ;  so  that  there  is  a 
very  considerable  quantity  of  the  brain,  as  you 
see.  There  is  even  a  little  brain  below  the 


APARTMENTS    AND    FURNITURE.  189 

line  of  the  string,  but  not  much,  unless  you 
call  that  brain  which  runs  clown  into  the  hol- 
low cavity  of  the  spine,  like  a  large  whitish 
cord,  and  which  I  have  already  told  you  is 
called  the  spinal  marrow. 

In  the  sides  of  the  pile  of  bones  called  the 
spine,  are  holes  all  along  from  top  to  bottom. 
They  are  formed  by  notches  in  each  vertebra, 
which  when  put  together  form  holes.  There 
are  also  six  or  seven  pair  of  holes  similar 
to  these,  through  the  sides  of  the  strong 
bone  below,  on  which  the  spine  stands. 
Through  each  of  these  run  large  branches  of 
the  spinal  marrow,  called  nerves.  These 
branches  or  cords  are  whitish,  like  the  marrow 
itself,  and  like  the  brain.  Their  number  is 
about  thirty  on  each  side.  They  part  into 
branches  almost  innumerable,  and  are  distrib- 
uted to  nearly  all  parts  of  the  body.  Besides 
these  thirty  pairs,  nine  pairs  more  go  out  from 
the  bottom  of  the  brain  itself,  through  holes  in 
the  cranium. 

The  nerves  divide  as  minutely  as  do  the 
arteries  and  veins.  This  is  proved  by  the  fact 
that  we  have  feeling  almost  everywhere  in  us. 


190  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

A  wound  with  the  point  of  the  smallest 
needle  gives  us  pain,  but  this  could  not  be,  un- 
less there  were  nerves  in  the  part  which  is 
wounded.  I  suppose  they  are  so  numerous 
that  if  there  were  any  way  of  destroying  all 
parts  of  the  human  body  except  the  nerves, 
without  in  the  slightest  degree  injuring  or  dis- 
placing the  latter,  they  would  present  a  large 
mass — whitish,  indeed,  and  not  quite  so  firm — 
but  resembling,  in  shape,  the  complete  and 
perfect  living  body.  The  arteries — the  vessels 
which  carry  blood  from  the  heart  to  all  parts  of 
the  body — if  all  else  were  destroyed,  would 
probably  present  the  same  appearance  ;  and  so 
would  the  veins.  This  shows,  in  a  most  strik- 
ing manner,  that  each  of  these  parts  of  the 
frame  must  be  very  numerous. 

There  is  however  one  important  difference 
between  the  nerves  and  the  blood  vessels. 
The  latter  are  all  hollow  tubes,  but  the  nerves 
are  not  known  to  be  so.  The  large  ones  cer- 
tainly are  not.  Some  have  supposed  that  the 
little  white  pulpy  threads  or  fibres  of  which 
they  are  all  made  up  are  hollow ;  but  this  too 
is  not  very  probable. 


APARTMENTS  AND  FURNITURE.     191 

There  are  several  curious  apartments  in  the 
brain,  but  it  is  difficult  for  me  to  describe  them 
in  a  small  work  like  this.  The  whole  brain, 
as  I  have  already  said,  exactly  fills  up  the 
hollow  brain-case  ;  and  I  might  have  added, 
that  the  spinal  marrow  completely  fills  the  hol- 
low of  the  spinal  column. 

One  of  the  chambers  in  the  interior  of  the 
brain  was  supposed  by  the  philosopher  Descar- 
tes to  be  the  particular  residence  of  the  spirit- 
ual inhabitant.  Now  I  will  not  stop  to  say 
what  may  have  been  the  fact  in  the  days  of 
Descartes,  nor  to  say  how  it  may  be  with  all 
other  spiritual  inhabitants  of  houses  of  clay,  but 
for  myself  I  can  assure  the  reader  with  cer- 
tainty that  I  do  not  exclusively  reside  there.  I 
live  in  all  parts  of  the  brain,  spinal  marrow  and 
nervous  system  ;  though  I  will  not  deny  that 
the  brain  is  my  more  special  residence. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


FURNITURE  OF  THE  HOUSE,  AND  ITS  USES. 

The  Blood.  Preparing  the  Blood.  Mas- 
tication or  Chewing.  Swallowing.  A 
Trap  Door.  Digestion.  Formation  of 
Chyle.  Lacteals.  Absorbents.  Materials 
for  Blood.  Nature  of  the  Blood.  Nature 
of  Secretion.  Motion  of  the  Heart.  Pul- 
sation. Force  of  the  Heart.  Capillaries. 

WE  come  now  to  the  furniture  of  the  house 
I  live  in,  and  its  various  uses.  This  will  make 
a  long,  but  I  trust  an  interesting  chapter. 

Here,  however,  our  similitude  begins  to  fail ; 
for  while  the  house  I  occupy,  like  all  other 
houses,  is  liable  to  daily  waste  and  decay,  there 
is,  in  the  human  habitation,  certain  furniture — 
machinery  perhaps  I  should  say — by  means  of 
which,  if  properly  managed,  repairs  are  going 


FURNITURE,    AND    ITS    USES.  193 

on  equal,  at  least,  to  the  waste.  But  in  no 
ordinary  dwelling  can  any  such  process  be 
found.  All  dwellings  can  indeed  be  repaired, 
but  it  is  usually  by  machinery  without,  and  not 
within. 

The  habitation  of  the  human  soul  is  kept  in 
repair  partly  by  means  of  the  rivers  which  run 
through  the  circulatory  apartment.  It  was  this 
fact  that  made  it  necessary  for  me  to  dwell  so 
long  upon  this  apartment  in  the  previous  chap- 
ter. 

rTnE  BLOOD. — There  is  nothing  in  this  part 
of  the  universe  which  so  much  resembles  the 
economy  of  the  human  body,  and  the  means  by 
which  its  constant  waste  is  supplied,  and  the 
whole  kept  in' repair,  as  watering  and  supply- 
ino-  the  face  of  the  earth.  Evaporation  and 
the  growth  of  plants  and  animals  are  constantly 
wasting  or  drying  up  the  soil ;  but  there  are 
numerous  hidden  streams,  some  of  them  very 
small,  that  wind  their  way  almost  everywhere, 
and  continually  furnish  new  moisture. 

It  is  true,  there  are  also  large  streams  which 
appear  on  the  surface,  unlike  the  surface   of 
17 


194  THE    HOUSE    1    LIVE    IN. 

the  human  body ;  neither  is  it  to  be  forgotten 
that  the  earth  is  watered,  in  part,  directly  from 
the  atmosphere. 

Still  there  is  a  striking  resemblance  between 
the  two  great  processes* — the  one  to  repair 
constantly  the  wants  of  a  world  ;  the  other,  to 
supply  the  wants  and  repair  the  waste,  &c.  of 
what,  for  the  sake  of  its  near  relation  to  its 
celestial  habitant,  is  worth  far  more  than  any 
known  globe. 

PREPARING  THE  BLOOD. — But  how  is  this 
blood,  in  its  ten  thousand  thousand  crimson 
streams,  prepared  and  supplied  to  the  human 
body  ?  for  it  must  be  first  made  before  it  can 
be  supplied.  It  is  a  most  curious  and  indeed 
wonderful  process,  and  one  which  demands  a 
particular  description. 

MASTICATION,  OB  CHEWING I  have  al- 
ready told  you  about  the  teeth,  their  number, 
their  uses,  &c.  I  am  now  ready  to  say  that 


*Man,  in  this  point  of  view,  more  than  in  any 
other,  may  justly  be  called  a  MICROCOSM. 


FURNITURE,    AND    ITS    USES.  195 

they  are  principally  designed  for  breaking  down 
and  grinding  the  material  of  which  the  blood  is 
to  be  made.  For  the  great  Author  of  our 
frames  has  so  ordered  it,  that  as  fast  as  our 
systems  waste,  a  feeling  arises  in  us  which  we 
call  hunger ;  and  we  take  much  pleasure  in 
gratifying  that  hunger.  But  in  order  to  gratify 
hunger  properly,  there  is  a  work  for  the  teeth 
to  perform,  of  which  I  have  just  spoken. 

But  while  the  teeth  are  breaking  in  pieces 
our  food,  the  salivary  glands,  described  in 
another  place,  are  continually  secreting  and 
pouring  through  small  tubes  into  the  mouth,  a 
quantity  of  saliva  just  sufficient  to  moisten  it, 
and  render  it  somewhat  like  pulp.  There  are 
also  other  little  glands,  under  the  tongue,  which 
assist  in  the  work. 

SWALLOWING. — When  the  food  is  beaten  fine 
and  moistened  sufficiently,  it  is  gathered  together 
upon  the  tongue,  and  by  a  curious  series  of 
movements,  which  I  have  not  room  in  a  work 
like  this  to  explain,  it  is  pushed  along  beyond 
the  root  of  the  tongue,  to  the  top  of  the  gullet, 
or  food  pipe,  whence  it  is  conveyed  downward 
into  the  stomach. 


196  THE    HOUSE    1    LIVE    IN. 

In  its  passage  it  goes  directly  over  the  trap 
door  of  which  I  have  already  spoken;  and  if 
we  were  not  careful,  would  sometimes  drop 
into  it.  If  we  laugh,  or  cough,  or  speak,  or 
sing,  while  the  food  is  passing  by  this  opening, 
there  is  very  great  danger. 

TRAP  DOOR. — It  is  true  that  this  door  usu- 
ally closes  when  anything  approaches,  almost 
as  quickly  as  I  formerly  told  you  the  eye  does 
when  anything  approaches  that.  But  it  is  also 
true  that,  as  it  is  in  the  case  of  the  eye,  it  does 
not  always  close  quite  soon  enough,  and  sub- 
stances sometimes  actually  fall  in.  When  they 
do,  [they  produce  irritation  and  tickling,  and 
induce  us  to  cough,  which  occasionally  throws 
up  the  offending  substance.  When  it  does  not, 
the  coughing  frequently  soon  subsides,  and  if 
the  substance  is  nothing  harder  than  a  piece  of 
bread,  it  dissolves  slowly,  and  gets  away ;  but 
if  it  is  something  harder,  as  a  piece  of  a 
chesnut  or  a  kernel  of  corn,  it  usually  causes 
trouble ;  and,  unless  the  surgeon  can  remove  it 
by  cutting  open  the  windpipe,  ends  in  death. 

While  writing  this  chapter,  I  have  read  in 
the  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  of 


FURNITURE,    AND    ITS    USES.  197 

a  little  girl,  five  years  old,  who,  in  playing  with 
a  brass  nail,  suffered  it  to  get  into  her  windpipe. 
It  produced  a  little  coughing,  and  then  all  was 
over ;  and  the  parents  and  friends  thought  all 
was  well.  But  more  than  a  year  afterward, 
on  taking  a  cold,  a  bad  cough,  with  hectic 
fever,  night  sweats,  and  bleeding  at  the  lungs, 
came  on,  and  she  died  of  a  quick  consumption. 
On  opening  her  body,  the  brass  nail  was  found 
in  her  lungs. 

I  hope  every  young  person  who  reads  this 
account  will  avoid  holding  such  things  in  his 
mouth,  as  well  as  all  talking  and  laughing 
while  eating ;  for  it  is  at  least  dangerous,  and 
may  prove  fatal  to  him. 

When  the  food  is  fairly  beyond  the  tongue 
and  the  little  trap  door,  it  goes  into  the  top  of 
the  food  pipe,  as  into  a  sort  of  funnel  top. 
Below,  this  pipe  is  smaller;  but  if  we  eat 
and  swallow  slowly,  not  so  small  as  to  hinder 
the  food  from  passing.  But  if  we  do  not 
half  chew  our  food,  or  if  we  swallow  it  too 
rapidly,  it  sometimes  sticks  in  this  passage,  and 
causes  great  trouble.  I  have  known  persons 
come  very  near  dying,  by  having  a  large  piece, 
17* 


198  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

of  meat,  or  some  other  hard  or  unchewed 
substance,  get  lodged  here  ;  and  it  was  only 
with  the  help  of  the  surgeon,  that  their  lives 
were  saved. 

DIGESTION. — The  food,  however,  at  length 
arrives  in  the  stomach.  Here,  after  remaining 
a  short  time,  it  gradually  softens  still  more  than 
before,  and  becomes  a  grayish  or  whitish  pulp, 
called  chyme.  The  formation  of  this  chyme  is 
greatly  hastened  by  a  fluid  called  the  gastric 
juice.  This  does  not  come  a  long  way  through 
pipes,  like  the  saliva,  but  seems  to  ooze  out  of 
the  inside  of  the  stomach,  in  large  drops,  as 
you  have  seen  the  drops  of  water  or  sweat 
from  the  forehead  of  a  laboring  man,  in  a  hot 
day. 

When  the  outside  of  the  mass  in  the  stomach 
becomes  soft,  it  is  slowly  conveyed,  by  a  curi- 
ous motion  of  this  organ,  from  its  left  towards 
its  right  end,  to  what  I  have  already  told  you  is 
called  the  pylorus.  By  the  pylorus  is  meant  the 
door  or  outer  gate  of  the  stomach,  or  as  some 
call  it,  the  door  keeper.  It  may  well  be  called 
a  door  keeper,  for  it  really  seems  to  exercise 


FURNITURE,    AND    ITS    USES.  199 

a  sort  of  choice.  If  anything  comes  along 
which  is  not  proper  to  go  into  the  system,  or 
not  yet  fit  to  make  blood,  it  does  not  for  some 
time  suffer  it  to  pass ;  though  after  the  sub- 
stance has  repeated  its  efforts  to  pass  a  great 
many  times,  it  appears  to  yield,  as  if  to  im- 
portunity. True  chyme,  made  of  good  and 
proper  materials,  it  never  refuses,  but  suffers  it 
to  go  through  at  once  into  the  portion  of  the 
intestines  next  to  the  stomach,  called  the  duo- 
denum. 

FORMATION  OF  CHYME. — Here,  in  the  duo- 
denum, it  becomes  a  still  more  perfect  chyme, 
and  is  gradually  mixed  with  a  bitter  liquor, 
called  bile,  coming  through  a  small  pipe  from 
the  liver,  and  with  a  liquor  reeembling  saliva, 
coming  from  the  pancreas,  or,  as  it  is  called, 
sweet  bread.  Being  mixed  with  these  liquors, 
some  of  it  slowly  passes  along,  and  spreads 
itself  over  nearly  the  whole  internal  surface  of 
the  intestines.  It  is  always  in  greatest  abun- 
dance, however,  in  the  duodenum,  and  a  few 
feet  of  the  intestines  next  to  it. 


200  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

LACTEALS. — Now  there  is  in  the  human 
body  a  set  of  little  vessels  called  lacteals, 
which  begin  in  great  numbers,  as  if  by  their 
roots,  in  the  sides  of  the  intestines,  and  gradu- 
ally uniting  as  they  proceed  along,  they  all  at 
length  come  together  into  one  principal  trunk 
or  large  pipe,  which  might  be  compared  to 
the  trunk  or  stem  of  a  tree.  These  vessels — 
or  their  roots — seem  to  begin  on  the  inside  of 
the  duodenum  and  other  intestines,  with  open 
or  funnel-shaped  mouths,  with  which  they 
suck  up  the  finer  or  better  parts  of  the  liquid 
there,  and  which,  during  the  operation  of  being 
taken  up,  is  changed  into  a  pearly  colored  or 
milky  fluid,  called  chyle. 

This  last,  after  being  taken  up,  is  conveyed 
along  in  the  small  vessels  it  begins  with,  till 
they  unite  with  others,  like  small  streams  with 
larger  ones.  These  again  unite  with  those 
which  are  still  larger,  until  they  at  last  meet  in 
a  grand  trunk  or  receptacle. 

From  this  receptacle  or  reservoir,  one  or 
more  pipes  or  ducts  go  out  to  carry  the  chyle 
which  it  contains  up  towards  the  top  of  the 
left  shoulder.  Here  is  a  great  vein,  which 


FURNITURE,    AND    ITS    USES.  201 

brings  back  the  blood  from  the  left  arm,  and 
pours  it  into  the  heart ;  and  into  this  vein  the 
chyle  is  poured,  and  mixed  with  the  blood, 
with  which  it  immediately  descends  into  the 
heart,  whence  it  also  goes  directly  to  the  lungs. 

ABSORBENTS.— There  is  also  another  set  of 
vessels,  found  almost  all  over  the  human  body, 
which  unite,  by  their  tributary  streams,  to  form 
this  mass  of  liquid  which  is  thus  poured  into 
the  veins.  They  are  called  absorbents.  They 
absorb  or  suck  up  any  substance  not  wanted 
in  one  place,  and  carry  it  back  into  the  blood, 
to  be  sent  round  again,  to  be  used  where  it  is 
really  wanted,  or  else  to  be  expelled  from  the 
body.  The  liquid  which  is  thus  found  in  these 
vessels  is  called  lymph.  The  lymph  is  of  a 
pale  red  color,  but  wholly  different  from  blood. 
Besides  having  the  general  name  of  absorbents, 
these  vessels  are  sometimes  called  lymphatics. 

I  have  said  that  the  chyle  is  pearl  colored  ; 
but  that  depends  generally  on  the  kind  of  ma- 
terial from  which  it  is  prepared.  If  that  con- 
sists partly  or  wholly  of  flesh,  the  chyle  is 
more  or  less  milky  in  its  appearance ;  but  if 


202  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

the  food  is  wholly  vegetable,  the  chyle  is  of  a 
fine  pearl  color. 

The  chyle,  in  its  pure  state,  is  just  like  the 
blood,  except  in  color.  The  little  globules, 
(small  round  bodies,)  which  swim  in  the  blood, 
and  give  color  to  it,  are  numerous  in  the  chyle  ; 
but  instead  of  being  red,  as  in  the  blood,  they 
are  white.  I  have  said  that  the  chyle,  in  its 
nature,  is  like  the  blood.  Of  the  nature  of 
the  latter,  I  shall  have  occasion  to  say  more 
presently. 

Whether  the  chyle  is  changed  to  a  red  color 
as  soon  as  it  is  mixed  with  the  blood,  or 
whether  the  change  does  not  take  place  till  it 
has  passed  with  it  through  the  lungs,  we  can 
better  judge,  perhaps,  when  we  come  to  speak 
of  the  blood,  and  the  changes  it  undergoes  in 
those  organs. 

Having  thus  traced  the  food,  or  raw  mate- 
rial, through  the  whole  of  a  most  wonderful 
manufacturing  process,  (which,  by  the  way, 
we  call  digestion,)  till  chyle,  and  perhaps 
blood  is  formed  from  it,  it  may  be  well  to  pause 
and  consider,  for  a  few  moments,  the  different 
materials  from  which  this  most  important  fluid 
is  prepared. 


FURNITURE,    AND    ITS    USES.  203 

MATERIALS  FOR  BLOOD. — The  great  Crea- 
tor has  so-  formed  this  wonderful  apparatus, 
that  it  has  the  power  of  forming  chyle  from 
almost  every  substance,  either  in  the  animal  or 
vegetable  kingdom.  Some  make  more,  others 
less  ;  some  make  it  of  excellent  quality,  others 
of  a  quality  very  inferior.  From  some,  it  is 
formed  very  rapidly ;  from  others,  very  slowly. 
Some  things,  in  the  process  of  digestion,  give 
out  a  great  deal  of  heat ;  others,  very  little. 
Lastly,  some  produce  great  excitement  and 
disturbance  of  the  stomach  and  other  organs, 
while  others  produce  almost  no  disturbance  at 
all. 

As  a  general  rule,  those  things  which  pro- 
duce the  least  disturbance  of  the  digestive 
organs,  and  of  the  other  organs  of  the  body, 
as  well  as  the  least  heat,  make  the  best  chyle, 
and  the  best  blood  ;  and  are,  of  course,  the 
best  adapted  to  our  use.  It  must  be  observed, 
however,  that  much  depends  upon  habit ;  and 
that  a  substance  which  is  naturally  rather  infe- 
rior to  another  may,  by  habit,  be  rendered  for 
a  time  somewhat  more  useful. 

Among  the  best  things  to  subject  to  the 
process  of  digestion  are,  bread  made  of  wheat 


204  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

flour  unbolted,  from  one  to  three  or  four  days 
old ;  bread  made  of  corn  meal  and  rye  meal, 
either  separate  or  mixed ;  bread  or  puddings 
made  of  rice,  sago,  tapioca  or  corn  meal ;  po- 
tatoes, apples,  pears,  peas,  beans,  &sc.  For 
infants  who  have  no  teeth,  milk,  as  it  is  well 
known,  forms  the  best  chyle  and  blood.  For 
adults,  a  tolerable  sort  of  chyle  may  be  formed 
of  plain  but  lean  meats,  fish,  milk  and  eggs ; 
and  an  inferior  sort,  of  butter,  cheese,  cakes, 
pies,  hot  bread,  beets,  turnips,  onions,  &c. 

All  these  substances  may  be  better  or  worse, 
according  as  they  are  more  or  less  broken  and 
ground  down  with  the  teeth,  and  mixed  with 
the  saliva ;  and  according  to  their  quantity. 
The  best  of  them,  if  not  well  masticated,  make 
but  an  inferior  sort  of  blood ;  and  the  worse,  if 
well  masticated,  make  chyle  and  blood  which 
answers,  in  some  good  degree,  the  purposes  of 
health.  So  of  quantity  :  those  which  are  even 
excellent  in  their  nature,  are  not  so  good,  if 
taken  in  excessive  quantity. 

Spirit  makes  no  chyle  or  blood  at  all ;  wine, 
cider,  ale,  beer,  coffee  and  tea,  very  little, 
unless  milk,  sugar,  molasses,  or  something  of 
the  kind  is  mixed  with  them.  Besides  this, 


FURNITURE,    AND    ITS    USES.  205 

they  contain  more  or  less  of  substances  which 
not  only  do  no  good,  but  are  positively  hurtful. 
Even  water  can  hardly  be  said  to  make  either 
chyle  or  blood  ;  but  then  it  quenches  our 
thirst,  and  answers  many  important  and  even 
indispensable  purposes. 

I  am  now  to  tell  you  about  the  blood ; — 
first,  what  it  is  ;  secondly,  its  uses ;  thirdly, 
how  it  is  kept  in  a  good  and  healthy  condition. 

NATURE  or  THE  BLOOD. — If  we  open  a 
vein  with  a  lancet — as  you  know  physicians 
sometimes  do — and  draw  out  a  quantity  of 
blood  into  a  bowl,  or  any  other  vessel,  and  let 
it  stand  in  the  open  air,  it  soon  begins  to  clot 
or  thicken,  or,  as  it  is  usually  called,  coagulate. 

From  the  surface  of  this  coagulated  part,  a 
yellowish  watery  fluid  oozes  out,  in  numerous 
small  drops,  which  gradually  increase  and  unite, 

Itill,  in  a  short  time,  there  is  more  of  this  thin 
liquid  than  there  is  of  the  thicker  coagulated 
part.  This  watery  part  is  called  the  serum. 

If  we  take  the  coagulated  part  of  the  blood, 
and  wash  it  thoroughly,  though  carefully,  we 
may  divest  it  of  nearly  all  its  coloring  matter, 
18 


206  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

and  leave  it  white.  This  white  substance 
is  called  ftbrine,  and  strongly  resembles  the 
fibrous  or  thread-like  substance  of  which  I 
have  already  told  you  the  muscles  are  formed. 

The  coloring  matter,  which  we  wash  out, 
consists  of  small  round  or  globular  particles, 
which,  before  the  blood  coagulates,  float  in  it ; 
but,  in  the  act  of  coagulation,  become  entan- 
gled in  the  fibrine.  You  have  also  been  in- 
formed, in  another  place,  that  these  globules 
exist  and  float  in  the  same  way  in  the  chyle, 
before  it  mixes  with  the  blood.  In  the  chyle, 
however,  they  are  colorless. 

What  gives  the  color  to  these  globules  in 
the  blood  is  unknown.  Some  suppose  it  is  the 
iron,  or  rather  phosphate  of  iron.  Phosphate 
of  iron,  it  is  well  known,  exists  in  the  blood, 
in  small  quantity.  Dr.  Good  thinks  there  is 
about  three  ounces  in  an  adult,  and  that  there 
is,  of  course,  about  enough  in  forty  men  to 
make  a  ploughshare. 

I  ought  also  to  mention  that  sulphur  is  found 
by  chemists  in  the  blood  ;  but  they  do  not  tell 
us  in  what  proportion. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  three  principal  ingre- 
dients of  the  blood  are  the  coloring  matter,  the 


FURNITURE,    AND    ITS    USES.  207 

fibrine,  and  the  serum.  The  serum  is  princi- 
pally albumen  and  water ;  though  it  also  con- 
tains, in  small  proportion,  besides  sulphur  and 
iron,  a  great  variety  of  substances,  especially 
salts.  Albumen  is  a  substance  which  you  may 
consider  as  resembling  the  white  of  an  egg  ; 
for  the  latter  is  almost  wholly  composed  of  it. 

USES  OF  THF  BLOOD. — All  parts  of  the 
human  body,  whether  solid  or  fluid,  and  what- 
ever may  be  their  appearance  or  structure,  are 
formed  from  the  blood.  I  have  told  you  how 
this  fluid  is  sent  out  by  the  heart  to  all  parts  of 
the  system,  even  to  the  bones.  I  have  also 
said  a  few  words  about  the  saliva,  and  the 
gastric  juice,  and  the  bile,  and  have  called 
them  secretions. 

It  may  be  necessary  to  observe,  in  this  place, 
that  by  the  word  secretion,  as  used  in  this 
book,  is  meant  something  formed  from  the 
blood.  Not  only  the  saliva,  the  tears,  the  gas- 
tric juice,  the  pancreatic  fluid,  and  the  bile  are 
secretions,  but  the  mucus  which  is  everywhere 
found  in  the  mucous  membranes  of  the  body, 
the  water  in  the  brain,  the  lungs,  &c.  In 
short,  wherever  you  find  water  or  anything 


208 


THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 


else,  inside  of  the  body,  except  in  the  intestines 
or  the  bladder,  you  may  be  pretty  sure  it  is 
formed  from  the  blood. 

You  will  perhaps  ask  how  it  is  formed. 
Sometimes  it  is  by  means  of  glands,  larger  or 
smaller;  sometimes  without  them.  A  gland  is 
a  soft  body,  full  of  vessels — arteries,  veins  and 
absorbents.  These  vessels  seem  so  numerous 
that  one  might  be  led  to  think  the  gland  was 
wholly  made  up  of  them.  Here  is  a  picture 
of  the  vessels  of  the  kidneys,  as  they  would 
appear  if  a  slice  of  this  organ  were  carefully 
viewed,  after  the  blood  had  been  wiped  away. 


FURNITURE,    AND    ITS    USES.  209 

The  kidney,  however,  is  not  so  good  a  spe- 
cimen of  the  nature  of  a  gland  as  the  liver 
would  be.  The  larger  glands  of  the  human 
body  are  the  liver,  the  spleen,  the  pancreas, 
the  salivary  glands,  the  lachrymal  glands,  &c. 
Besides  these,  there  are  small  glands  almost 
innumerable.  The  cerumen  of  the  ear,  and 
the  oil  of  the  skin,  of  which  I  have  already 
spoken,  are  secreted  by  little  glands. 

The  lymphatic  or  absorbent  vessels  are  eve- 
rywhere connected,  in  their  passage  through 
the  body,  with  little  glands.  Some  of  these 
are  larger,  some  smaller ;  and  most  of  them 
are  very  small  indeed.  Those  little  swellings 
called  kernels :  which  sometimes  appear  in  the 
armpit  or  groin,  or  in  the  sides  of  the  neck,  are 
nothing  but  inflamed  lymphatic  glands. 

All  these  glands,  (except  the  lymphatic 
glands,  whose  use  is  unknown,)  secrete  some- 
thing ;  and  the  material  for  secreting  anything 
from  is  the  blood,  sent  to  them  from  the  heart, 
into  their  ten  thousand  little  vessels. 

NATURE  OF  SECRETION. — I  have  already 
observed  that  some  of  the  liquids,  &c.  of  the 

18* 


210  THE    HOUSE    1    LIVE    IN. 

human  body  seem  to  be  secreted  without  the 
help  of  glands.  They  appear  to  be  made  di- 
rectly from  the  blood  vessels.  How,  we  do 
not  know.  Perhaps  they  ooze  through  the 
sides  of  the  vessels. 

Here,  perhaps,  in  the  vessel,  is  blood ;  there, 
outside  of  it,  but  not  a  hair's  breadth  from  it, 
is  gastric  juice,  or  some  other  entirely  new 
substance.  Here  is  simple  chyme  or  chyle ; 
there,  at  the  distance  of  a  hair's  breadth,  is 
chyle  or  blood.  Here  is  chyme  or  chyle  made 
of  common  food,  with  no  sulphur,  or  iron,  or 
nitrogen  in  it ;  there,  perhaps  not  the  twelfth 
part  of  an  inch  distant,  is  a  fluid  made  from 
this  very  liquid,  containing  nitrogen,  sulphur 
and  iron ! 

By  what  secret  laws  of  the  Creator  have 
these  little  vessels  this  wonderful  power  ?  By 
what  mysterious  process  can  they  change — in 
the  twinkling  of  an  eye — a  bland  milky  sub- 
stance, made  from  simple  bread,  or  milk,  or 
potatoes,  into  iron  or  sulphur  ?  But  so  it  is. 
Well,  indeed,  might  David  the  Psalmist  express 
wonder. 


FURNITURE,    AND    ITS    USES.  211 

Not  only  the  liquid  parts,  but  the  solid  parts 
too,  are  made  from  the  blood.  The  very 
bones  themselves,  at  first  gelatine,  are  gradually 
made  into  bone,  by  means  of  the  blood  in  its 
little  vessels.  First  a  particle  of  gelatine  is 
taken  away,  by  the  absorbents;  then  comes 
along  a  particle  of  blood,  or  something  that 
the  blood  contains,  and  stops  in  its  place,  and 
so  on. 

These  particles,  which  are  thus  taken  out  to 
form  bone  in  the  place  of  gelatine,  are  many  of 
them  lime,  or  phosphate  of  lime,  or  at  least 
something  which  makes  lime,  before  it  can  be- 
come bone.  Who  directs  the  little  particles  of 
lime  to  the  places  where  they  are  wanted  ? 
Who  tells  them  to  stop  at  the  bones,  and  not 
before? 

The  power  of  the  system  to  take  out  from 
the  blood  what  is  wanted  for  its  growth  and 
support,  is  aptly  shown  by  Dr.  Edwards.1*  He 
had  been  speaking  of  the  wonderful  distribution 


*  See  the  Eighth  Report  of  the  American  Tem- 
perance Society,  page  11. 


212  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

of  the  blood,  in  the  little  arteries,  to  every  part 
of  the  body,  when  he  thus  adds : 

"  Along  on  the  lines  of  these  tubes  or  canals, 
(the  arteries,)  through  which  the  blood,  with 
all  its  treasures,  flows,  God  has  provided  a  vast 
multitude  of  little  organs  or  waiters,  whose 
office  is,  each  one  to  take  out  of  the  blood,  as 
it  comes  along,  that  kind  and  quantity  of  nour- 
ishment which  it  needs  for  its  own  support, 
and  also  for  the  support  of  that  part  of  the 
body  which  is  committed  to  its  care.  And 
although  exceedingly  minute  and  delicate,  they 
are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  the  won- 
derful power  of  doing  this,  and  also  of  abstain- 
ing from,  or  of  expelling  and  throwing  back 
into  the  common  mass,  what  is  unsuitable,  or 
what  they  do  not  want,  to  be  carried  to  some 
other  place,  where  it  may  be  needed  ;  or  if  it 
is  not  needed  anywhere,  and  is  good  for  noth- 
ing, to  be  thrown  out  of  the  body  as  a  nuisance. 

"For  instance,  the  organs  placed  at  the 
ends  of  the  fingers,  when  the  blood  comes 
there,  take  out  of  it  what  they  need  for  their 
support,  and  also  what  is  needed  to  make  fin- 


FURNITURE,    AND    ITS    USES.  213 

ger  nails  ;  while  they  will  cautiously  abstain 
from  and  repel  that  which  will  only  make  hair, 
and  let  it  go  on  to  the  head.  And  the  organs 
on  the  head  carefully  take  out  that  which  they 
need  for  their  support,  and  also  that  which 
will  make  hair,  or,  in  common  language,  cause 
it  to  grow ;  while  they  will  cautiously  abstain 
from  taking  that  which  is  good  for  nothing 
except  to  make  eyeballs,  and  let  it  go  to  the 
eyes,  and  will  even  help  it  on.  And  the  or- 
gans about  the  eyes  will  take  that,  and  work 
it  up  into  eyes,  or  cause  them  to  grow.  And 
so  throughout  the  whole." 

Every  one  sees  that  there  must  be  a  con- 
stant waste  in  every  part  of  the  system.  It  is 
impossible  but  that  the  friction — the  "  wear 
and  tear  "  of  hundreds  of  muscles  and  tendons, 
and  thousands  of  rapid  streams — should  gradu- 
ally produce  an  effect,  let  the  parts  be  ever  so 
hard.  A  continual  dropping  will  wear  away  a 
rock. 

Now  the  blood  not  only  carries  out  little 
atoms  or  particles  to  make  all  parts  of  the 
body  grow,  and  to  replace  the  atoms  that  are 


214  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

worn  off  by  friction  in  our  motions,  but  it  also 
takes  away  the  worn  out  and  good  for  noth- 
ing particles,  and  carries  them  out  of  the  body. 
It  is  true  they  are  taken  up  by  the  absorbents 
in  the  first  place ;  but  then  the  absorbents 
carry  them  to  the  blood,  and  empty  them  into 
it,  which  amounts  to  the  same  thing.  In  this 
way,  as  you  may  easily  see,  the  blood  is  liable 
to  lose  its  purity  and  excellence,  since  it  is 
constantly  giving  out  good  particles,  and  re- 
ceiving bad  ones.* 

MOTION  OF  THE  HEART. — The  heart  is 
kept  in  motion,  we  know  not  how;  nor  can 
the  wisest  anatomist  or  physiologist  in  the 
world  tell  us.  We  know  that  the  lungs  have 


*  The  manner  in  which  the  bad  or  waste  particles 
are  removed  from  the  system  is  very  curious.  The 
kidneys  seem  to  be  a  sort  of  sieve  or  filter;  with  this 
difference,  however,  that  while  a  sieve  permits  only 
the  finest  and  l)est  parts  to  pass  through  it,  the  kid- 
neys filter  out  the  worse  or  coarser  parts.  These 
are  carried  in  two  pipes  called  ureters,  to  the  blad- 
der, whence  they  are  conveyed  immediately  out  of 
the  system. 


FURNITURE,    AND    ITS    USES.  215 

something  to  do  in  the  case  ;and  when  once  set 
a-going,  we  can  form  some  idea  of  what  keeps 
it  going;  but  after  all,  the  real  causes  of  the 
continued  motion  of  either  the  heart  or  the 
lungs  is  a  great  mystery. 

You  are  probably  aware  that  you  can  feel 
the  motion  of  the  heart,  if  you  will  only  lay 
your  hand  on  your  left  side,  near  the  lower 
ribs.  This  important  organ — not  larger  than  a 
man's  fist,  and  strong  and  muscular — is  situated 
slanting,  or  obliquely,  as  you  see  in  the  follow- 
ing engraving.  It  is  represented  nearly  in  the 
position  in  which  my  heart  would  appear,  if 
you  could  stand  before  me  this  moment,  and 
see  it  just  as  it  now  is,  in  full  motion.  I  mean, 
its  position  is  just  what  it  would  then  be.  In 
other  respects,  it  would  appear  differently, 
especially  in  its  connections  ;  for  the  vessels 
which  go  to  it  and  come  from  it  are  here  rep- 
resented as  cut  off. 


216 


THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 


On  this  cut  o  and  q  show  the  stumps  of  the 
two  great  veins  which  bring  back  the  blood 
that  had  been  sent  to  all  parts  of  the  body  by 
the  arteries.  There  are,  however,  one  or  two 
more  rather  large  veins  that  bring  back  blood. 
These  you  see  at^?.  The  right  auricle  is  at  n; 
b  is  the  right  ventricle  ;  Jc  represents  the  pul- 
monary artery  through  which  the  blood  is  sent 


FURNITURE,    AND    ITS    USES.  217 

to  be  changed  in  the  lungs ;  1 1  are  the  right 
and  left  branches  of  this  artery  ;  m  m  show  the 
great  veins  which  bring  back  the  blood  from 
the  lungs  into  the  left  auricle  ;  a,  the  left  ven- 
tricle ;  c  e  /,  the  great  aorta,  through  which 
blood  is  sent  out  to  all  parts  of  the  body  ;  and 
g  h  i,  the  branches  of  this  artery  which  carry 
blood  to  the  neck,  head  and  arms.  The  little 
arrows  point  always  in  the  direction  in  which 
the  blood  runs. 

But  I  must  explain  to  you,  a  little  more 
fully,  the  motion  of  the  heart.  The  blood 
which  returns  from  the  lungs,  through  m  m, 
and  that  which  returns  from  all  the  rest  of  the 
body  through  o  p  q,  enters  both  the  right  and 
left  auricles  at  the  same  instant,  and  also  in 
the  same  instant  flows  through  these  auricles 
into  the  two  ventricles. 

I  ought  before  now  to  have  told  you  that 
there  is  a  strong  partition  between  the  right 
and  left  sides  of  the  heart,  so  that  the  right 
auricle  and  right  ventricle,  with  their  blood 
brought  back  from  the  veins,  can  have  nothing 
to  do  with  the  blood  in  the  left  auricle  and  left 
ventricle.  It  is  indeed  as  if  there  were  two 
19 


218  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

hearts  placed  side  by  side,  and  closely  pressed 
together ; — and  in  some  animals,  I  believe 
there  really  are  two. 

Both  the  hearts  however  fill,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  in  the  same  instant.  Now  let 
us  suppose  them  filled.  What  is  next  to  be 
done  ?  The  heart  contracts — shrinks — and 
compresses  the  blood  with  as  much  force  as  a 
strong  man  could  compress  it  with  his  hand. 
But  suppose  you  held  in  your  hand  a  fleshy 
sack  of  blood  that  contained  two  or  three 
ounces,  with  little  hollow  branches,  that  parted 
into  ten  thousand  more  into  which  the  blood 
could  flow,  but  could  not  get  out  of  their  sides 
or  extremities.  Suppose  them  now  all  full, 
and  the  sack  full,  too.  If  you  press  the  sack 
hard  with  your  hand,  what  will  happen  ?  Why, 
the  blood,  you  will  tell  me,  will  go  out  of  it 
into  the  branches.  It  will ;  but  it  will  be  as 
likely  to  go  into  one  as  another,  provided  it  is 
equally  large. 

But  there  is  another  difficulty.  As  soon  as 
I  cease  to  press  the  sack,  and  the  blood  has  an 
opportunity  to  do  so,  it  will  run  back  into  it 
again.  So  you  may  perhaps,  at  first  view, 


FURNITURE,    AND    ITS    USES.  219 

suppose  the  heart  would  do.  As  soon  as  it 
should  cease  to  contract,  and  begins  to  relax  so 
that  its  cavities  or  chambers  would  hold  just  as 
much  as  they  did  before,  the  blood  would  run 
back  into  it.  Why  should  it  not  ? — No  mo- 
tion like  that  in  our  bodies  would  ever,  in  this 
way,  be  produced. 

I  have  told  you  what  one  might  naturally 
think  who  knew  nothing  about  the  circulation. 
But  let  us  see  for  a  moment  what  the  facts  are. 

When  the  two  auricles,  one  on  each  side  of 
the  heart,  are  full  of  blood,  they  contract  at 
the  same  time  and  push  the  blood  into  the  two 
ventricles.  If  you  ask  why  this  blood  is  not 
just  as  likely  to  go  back  into  the  veins  again, 
when  the  auricles  contract,  as  to  go  into  the 
ventricles,  I  will  give  you  two  reasons.  First, 
the  veins  are  already  full,  and  the  mass  of 
blood  in  them  is  flowing  onward  and  pressing 
towards  the  auricles  ;  and  to  force  the  blood 
back  into  them  would  be  somewhat  like  push- 
ing it  up  hill.  But  secondly,  there  are  little 
clappers  or  valves,  as  they  are  called,  in  the 
sides  of  the  veins,  which,  like  so  many  small 
swinging  doors,  hang  down  against  the  sides  of 


220  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

the  veins  so  long  as  the  blood  in  them  is  run- 
ning towards  the  auricles.  But  as  soon  as  the 
auricles  contract  and  the  blood  attempts  to  get 
back  by  the  way  it  came,  the  valves  spread  out 
and  form  a  kind  of  floor  or  partition  which 
obstructs  it. 

These  valves,  by  the  way,  are  found  in  the 
larger  veins  all  over  the  body ;  and  now  comes 
the  reason  why  the  blood  can  run  up  hill. 
The  pressure  in  the  veins  is  all  the  while 
diminishing,  as  you  may  easily  see,  on  the  side 
towards  the  heart,  even  though  it  is  the  up  hill 
side  ;  and  as  the  arteries,  at  their  extremities, 
are  all  the  while  pouring  their  blood  into  them, 
the  pressure  must  be  as  constantly  and  cer- 
tainly increasing  on  the  other  side.  Besides 
this  general  pressure,  there  is  also  local  pres- 
sure. The  veins  lie,  most  of  them,  in  the 
skin,  or  among  the  muscles,  or  among  parts 
that  are  performing  some  sort  of  motion.  This 
motion  must  push  the  blood  in  one  direction  or 
another.  But  as  the  valves  prevent  its  going 
back,  the  pressure  is  hard  enough  to  make  it 
go  slowly  up  hill ;  and  thus  it  moves  on  and 
on,  till  it  finds  its  way  to  the  heart. 


FURNITURE,    AND    ITS    USES.  221 

But  this  is  a  digression,  though  it  is  a  neces- 
sary one.  I  will  now  go  back  and  proceed  to 
describe  the  motion  of  the  heart. 

We  have  seen  how  it  is  that  the  blood  gets 
out  of  the  auricles  into  the  ventricles,  and  why 
it  goes  into  the  ventricles  rather  than  backward 
into  the  veins.  Now  the  ventricles  both  con- 
tract ;  and  as  was  the  case  with  the  two  auricles, 
they  both  contract  in  the  same  instant.  This 
contraction  pushes  their  blood  into  the  arteries, 
as  I  have  before  told  you.  The  right  ventricle 
pushes  its  blood  into  the  pulmonary  artery, 
whence  it  goes  to  the  lungs  ;  and  the  left  ven- 
tricle pushes  its  blood  into  the  great  aorta, 
through  which  it  goes  to  every  part  of  the 
body. 

Why  does  not  the  blood,  when  the  ventricle 
contracts,  go  back  into  the  auricle  ?  Because 
there  are  valves  between  them  which  imme- 
diately spread  out,  like  so  many  flaps  or  clap- 
pers, and  form  a  sort  of  partition  or  floor,  as 
the  valves  do  in  the  veins,  and  prevent  it. 
They  do  not,  it  is  true,  prevent  every  drop  of 
it  from  returning.  A  very  small  quantity  gets 
back,  but  none  worth  mentioning. 
19* 


222  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

It  is  the  contraction  of  the  ventricles,  which 
I  have  described,  that  causes  the  motion  of  the 
heart,  and  which  is  felt  so  plainly  on  the  out- 
side of  our  bodies.  It  takes  place  in  an  adult 
male,  in  good  health,  about  once  a  second  ;  in 
females,  it  is  rather  more  frequent.  It  is  most 
frequent,  both  in  males  and  females,  at  birth  ; 
and  diminishes  in  frequency  till  we  come  to 
middle  age. 

PULSATION. — This  beating  of  the  heart,  as 
the  blood  is  pushed  from  it  into  the  arteries, 
seems  to  be  felt  in  the  large  arteries  all  over 
the  body.  I  say  seems  to  be  ;  but  the  subject 
is  not  well  understood.  We  only  know  that 
if  we  lay  our  finger  on  an  artery  at  the  wrist, 
or  in  the  ankle,  or  any  other  extreme  part  of 
the  body — feel  the  pulse,  as  it  is  called — this 
beating  in  the  extremities  corresponds  exactly 
with  the  beating  of  the  heart. 

FORCE  OF  THE  HEART. — The  force  with 
which  the  ventricles  press  the  blood  to  push  it 
out  of  the  heart  has  been  variously  estimated. 
Some  reckon  it  at  only  a  few  ounces ;  others 


FURNITURE,    AND    ITS    USES.  223 

much  more,  and  some  180,000  pounds.  The 
truth  is  that  it  presses  very  hard,  with  a  force 
apparently  equal  if  not  superior  to  that  of  the 
gripe  of  a  strong  man  with  his  fist.  But  it 
does  not  press  with  a  force  equal  to  thousands 
of  pounds,  nor  even  hundreds.  I  suspect  it 
may  be,  in  an  adult,  from  20  to  30  pounds. 

One  reason  why  anatomists  have  made  such 
strange  calculations  is,  that  they  could  not 
conceive  how  the  blood  could  otherwise  be 
carried  so  swiftly  to  all  parts  of  the  system. 
The  distance  it  has  to  go  in  some  instances  is 
great,  for  the  arteries  are  very  crooked.  But 
they  seemed  to  forget  that  by  the  curious 
structure  we  have  mentioned,  the  veins  were 
all  the  while  getting  empty,  and  a  sort  of 
vacuum  forming  in  their  cavities,  into  which  the 
blood  would  naturally*  rush  from  the  arteries, 
so  that  the  pressure  or  rather  the  resistance  of 
the  latter  to  the  contents  of  the  heart  would 
be  constantly  diminishing,  and  thus  there  would 
be  a  tendency  to  a  regular  current  of  the 
blood. 


*  It  is  said — and  with  some  truth — that  nature 
abhors  a  vacuum. 


224  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

CAPILLARIES. — They  appear  to  forget  also 
the  structure  and  nature  of  the  little  arteries — 
sometimes  called  capillaries — found  in  such 
numbers  in  the  skin,  in  the  muscles,  and  indeed 
everywhere  in  the  body.  The  truth  is,  that 
the  coats  of  these  little  vessels  are  muscular, 
and  it  is  a  pretty  well  established  fact  that  they 
have  the  power  of  drawing  the  blood  from  the 
heart.  Dr.  Smith,  late  an  eminent  professor 
of  Surgery  in  Yale  College,  thought  that  these 
capillary  vessels  did  almost  all  the  work ;  the 
heart  doing  very  little. 

Others  too  have  thought  the  same.  They 
viewed  them,  something  in  the  light  of  little 
pumps,  all  over  the  body,  that  were  continually 
pumping  up  the  blood  from  the  deep  well  of 
the  heart  to  the  extremities  of  the  remotest 
chambers  of  the  body.  You  may  form  some 
idea  of  their  meaning,  by  thinking  of  the  Astor 
House  in  New  York,  and  other  public  houses 
built  on  the  same  plan,  where  water  is  carried 
by  means  of  pumps  and  other  machinery  to 
every  room  in  the  house,  even  to  the  highest 
story  and  the  remotest  chambers. 

The  truth  here — as  almost  always  happens 
— -fajls  between  extremes.     The  heart  really 


FURNITURE,    AND    ITS    USES.  225 

pushes  the  blood  with  considerable  force  ;  and 
the  muscular  capillaries,  at  the  same  time,  act 
in  a  slight  degree  like  little  pumps.  Then  the 
vacuum  I  have  spoken  of  has  some  influence ; 
and  there  may  be  other  causes  in  operation 
which  I  have  not  mentioned.  The  whole 
process  of  circulation  is  wonderful,  and  it 
requires  a  large  volume  to  illustrate  and  ex- 
plain it  fully. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


FURNITURE,  AND  ITS  USES— CONTINUED. 

Purifying  the  Blood.  The  Lungs.  Capa- 
city of  the  Lungs.  Breathing.  Uses  of 
Breathing.  Nature  of  the  Air.  Breath- 
ing Air  twice.  Ventilation.  Free  motion 
of  the  Lungs.  Tight  Lacing. 

WE  are  now  prepared  to  enter  upon  another 
subject — the  study  of  the  process  by  which 
the  purity  of  the  blood  is  promoted,  in  defiance 
of  many  causes  which  are  continually  in  opera- 
tion to  render  it  impure. 

PURIFYING  THE  BLOOD. — This  is  done  by 
means  of  air.  But  how  is  air  to  be  introduced 
into  the  human  body  ?  Can  we  eat  it  ?  Can 
we  drink  it  ?  Can  it  enter  by  means  of  the 
eyes,  or  the  ears,  or  the  nose  ?  Not  in  either 
way  exactly.  It  can  indeed  enter  into  the 


FURNITURE,    AND    ITS    USES.  227 

nose,  but  without  some  other  machinery,  it 
would  go  no  farther  than  the  throat,  before  it 
must  return  or  pass  out  at  the  mouth.  A 
little,  it  is  true,  is  swallowed,  both  in  our  food 
and  drink  ;  but  the  quantity  is  not  very  con- 
siderable. 

There  is  air,  moreover,  in  every  part  of  the 
body ;  if  there  were  not,  we  should  soon  be 
crushed.  The  atmosphere  in  which  we  live 
presses  on  us  with  a  tremendous  force,  equal, 
it  is  said,  in  a  middling  sized  man,  to  about 
32,000  pounds.  But  as  there  is  air  in  us,  in 
all  our  solids  and  fluids,  which  presses  outward 
while  the  atmosphere  presses  in  the  other 
direction,  we  do  not  perceive  it. 

But  when  1  said  the  blood  must  be  purified 
by  the  air,  I  meant  in  a  manner  much  more 
rapid  and  effectual  than  could  be  done  by  its 
gradual  introduction,  and  its  circulation  in  the 
vessels. 

THE  LUNGS. — The  house  I  live  in  contains 
something  like  a  great  bellows,  by  whose  curi- 
ous operation  the  blood  is  cleansed  and  purified* 
It  is  contained  in  the  upper  story,  and  fills 


228  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

nearly  the  whole  of  it,  leaving  only  a  small 
chamber  at  one  side  for  the  heart.  It  blows 
its  blasts  at  the  rate  of  twenty  or  twenty-five  a 
minute  in  an  adult — and  at  a  greater  rate  still 
in  children — and  continues  them,  whether  we 
sleep  or  wake,  as  long  as  we  live.  I  refer,  as 
you  will  readily  know,  to  the  lungs. 

I  have  already  spoken  briefly  of  the  lungs. 
I  have  told  you  about  the  windpipe,  which 
leads  by  its  various  branches  to  the  ten  thou- 
sand little  cells  within ;  and  I  have  told  you 
that  all  these  cells  were  lined  by  mucous  mem- 
brane, a  membrane  constructed  like  the  skin, 
though  thicker.  But  I  believe  I  have  not  yet 
told  you  how  much  air  these  chambers  of  the 
human  body  will  hold,  nor  how  great  are  the 
superficial  contents  of  the  membrane  on  which 
the  air  is  spread  to  be  purified. 

So  numerous  are  the  pipes  and  cells  in  the 
lungs,  that  it  is  commpnly  thought  the  extent 
of  the  mucous  membrane  which  lines  them 
must  be  equal,  at  least,  to  the  extent  of  the 
skin.  This  is,  in  a  middling  sized  adult,  about 
fifteen  square  feet.  Over  all  this  surface  the 
fresh  air  which  we  breathe  may  circulate  and 


FURNITURE,    AND    ITS    USES.  229 

fulfil  its  office  in  effecting  that  change  in  the 
blood  of  which  I  am  to  speak  presently. 

CAPACITY  OF  THE  LUNGS. — As  to  the 
quantity  of  air  which  the  lungs  will  hold,  it  is 
very  differently  estimated.  Many  anatomists 
think  it  about  200  cubic  inches,  or  three 
quarts,  in  the  adult  male ;  but  I  think  there 
must  be  a  mistake  in  their  calculations,  and 
that  it  cannot  exceed  two  quarts. 

When  we  breathe  out,  or  expire,  as  it  is 
called,  we  do  not  expel  all  the  air  actually  in 
our  lungs,  but  only  a  small  part  of  it.  Of 
course  when  we  inspire,  we  merely  introduce  air 
enough  to  supply  the  place  of  what  was  before 
expelled.*  The  amount  which  we  draw  or 
inspire  at  each  breath,  (I  speak  of  an  adult 
still,)  is  thought  to  be  about  forty  cubic  inches, 
or  over  a  pint ;  but  I  think  this  estimate  also 
too  high.  Females,  with  lungs  somewhat 


*  It  may  be  well  to  say  here,  that  while  the  pro- 
cess of  inhaling  air  is  called  inspiration  and  that  of 
expelling  it  expiration,  the  whole  process  of  breath- 
ing is  called  respiration. 
20 


230  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN* 

smaller  than  males,  inspire  a  still  smaller  quan- 
tity, and  children  a  quantity  smaller  still. 

BREATHING. — But  how  is  the  process  of 
breathing  performed  ?  To  understand  this,  it 
is  necessary  to  revert  once  more  to  the  struc- 
ture of  the  frame-work  of  the  human  system. 

The  ribs,  though  fastened  to  the  spine  or 
back  bone,  are  not  so  firmly  fixed  but  what 
they  admit  of  considerable  motion.  This  mo- 
tion is  very  curious,  and  somewhat  difficult  to 
describe.  I  can  only  say  that  it  is  of  such  a 
nature,  if  unconfined  and  unrestrained,  as  to 
enlarge  the  cavity  of  the  chest  when  we  in- 
spire, and  to  diminish  it  when  we  expire. 

This  motion  of  the  ribs  is  caused,  in  part, 
by  the  shortening  or  contracting  of  the  muscles 
about  the  chest.  Of  these,  there  are  two  be- 
tween every  two  ribs;  and  as  there  are,  on 
both  sides,  twenty-four  ribs,  there  are  forty- 
four  of  these  muscles  concerned  in  moving  the 
"bellows,"  every  time  I  wish  to  breathe.  In 
addition  to  these,  there  are  nearly  one  hundred 
others,  that  have  more  or  less  concern  in  this 
matter. 


FURNITURE,  AND    ITS    USES.  231 

An  adult,  generally,  has  from  twenty  to 
twenty-five  of  these  inspirations  in  a  minute, 
as  I  have  already  observed.  When  we  exer- 
cise violently,  as  in  running,  the  motion  is 
more  rapid.  So  it  is  in  childhood,  and  some- 
times in  a  fever.  When  the  lungs  move  faster, 
the  heart  beats  faster  too,  in  the  same  propor- 
tion ;  the  breathing  and  the  contractions  of  the 
heart  always  bearing  an  exact  proportion  to 
each  other. 

Now  what  is  the  object  of  all  this  motion  ? 
For  what  purpose  is  a  pint  of  air  drawn  into 
the  lungs,  and  spread  over  fifteen  square  feet 
of  internal  surface,  every  three  seconds,  and 
another  pint  withdrawn  from  them  as  often  ? 
This  I  can,  in  part,  tell  you. 

USES  OF  BREATHING. — In  its  healthy  natu- 
ral state,  before  it  is  sent  out  into  all  parts  of 
the  body,  the  blood  is  composed  of  carbon, 
oxygen,  nitrogen  and  hydrogen.  Of  one  hun- 
dred parts  of  blood,  fifty-three  are  carbon, 
twenty-four  oxygen,  sixteen  nitrogen,  and 
seven  hydrogen. 

But  when  it  has  been  circulated  all  over  the 
body,  and  has  returned  through  the  veins  to 


232  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

the  right  auricle  and  ventricle  of  the  heart,  its 
properties  become  greatly  changed.  It  is  now 
of  a  deep  purple  hue,  and  -  has  hence  often 
been  called  black  blood. 

In  this  state,  it  is  found  to  be  loaded  with 
too  great  a  proportion  of  carbon  ;  and  this,  too, 
notwithstanding  what  has  been  done  by  the 
skin  ;  for  it  is  a  most  striking  fact,  that  this 
very  work  of  purifying  the  blood,  of  which 
I  am  about  to  speak  as  taking  place  in  the 
lungs,  takes  place  in  a  small  degree  all  over 
the  surface  of  the  body.  Still  it  does  not  com- 
plete the  work,  and  the  blood  still  comes  from 
the  heart  through  the  pulmonary  artery  to  the 
lungs  in  its  impure,  purple  or  black  state — not 
only  overloaded  with  carbon,  but  mixed  with 
such  other  noxious  ingredients  as  render  it 
unfit  for  the  use  of  the  organs  where  it  travels, 
in  forming  their  various  parts,  secretions,  &c. 
It  also  brings  back  with  it — at  least  a  few 
hours  after  every  meal — a  mass  of  chyle  just 
mixed  with  the  blood,  which  probably  needs  a 
change  in  the  lungs,  before  it  is  fit  to  become 
blood,  and  afford  nourishment  to  the  system. 

Arrived  in  the  lungs,  it  is  spread,  almost 
immediately,  over  the  vast  space  which  is  af- 


FURNITURE,  AND    ITS    USES.  233 

forded  by  their  numerous  cells,  and  thus  ex- 
posed to  the  atmospheric  air.  This  produces 
a  most  surprising  change  ;  and  the  blood  is  now 
sent  back  into  the  left  auricle  and  ventricle  of 
the  heart,  to  be  distributed  all  over  the  system, 
in  a  renovated  (renewed)  state.  Its  color  is 
changed  to  a  bright  scarlet;  it  has  lost  its 
superabundance  of  carbon,  and  its  other  bad 
qualities,  and  it  has  acquired  new  life  and  new 
spirit. 

About  the  precise  nature  of  this  change — 
whether  the  blood  takes  in  something  from 
the  air,  or  whether  the  air  takes  something 
away  from  the  blood,  there  has  hitherto  been 
a  great  difference  of  opinion  ;  and  even  now 
the  point  is  not  wholly  settled.  It  is  sufficient 
for  us,  in  a  book  like  this,  to  know  that  a 
change  does  take  place,  and  what  its  results 
are,  in  regard  to  health. 

NATURE  OF  THE  AIR. — But  I  must  not 
pass  over  this  part  of  my  subject,  without  men- 
tioning the  changes  which  take  place  in  the 
air  which,  in  the  lungs,  comes  in  such  close 
contact  with  the  blood.  This  air,  in  its  natu« 
20* 


234  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

ral  and  most  fit  state  for  breathing,  consists  of 
about  80  parts  of  nitrogen  gas,  and  20  of  oxy- 
gen gas,  or  vital  air ;  though  some  say  there  is 
always  a  little  carbonic  acid  gas  mixed  with  it, 
even  in  its  purest  or  healthiest  state.  But  no 
sooner  is  it  breathed  over  in  the  lungs — even 
once — than  the  oxygen  is  greatly  diminished, 
and  the  carbonic  acid  gas  greatly  increased. 
If  we  breathe  the  same  air  over  twice  or  three 
times,  the  carbonic  acid  becomes  still  more 
abundant,  while  the  oxygen  as  rapidly  dimin- 
ishes. 

BREATHING  Am  TWICE. — Now  if  we 
breathe  air  twice  over,  or  if  we  breathe  that 
which  already  has  carbonic  acid  in  it,  derived 
from  some  other  source,  it  does  not  sufficiently 
change  the  blood  from  its  black  to  its  scarlet 
color.  It  is  consequently  sent  back  to  the 
heart,  and  distributed  all  over  the  body,  in  a 
state  totally  unfit  for  the  purposes  for  which 
the  great  Creator  designed  and  gave  it ;  and  if 
this  abuse  is  long  permitted,  the  health  suffers. 

The  air  is  changed  by  breathing  it,  at  a 
most  astonishing  rate.  Probably  we  inhale — 


FURNITURE,  AND    ITS    USES.  235 

I  speak  now  of  adults,  for  children  inhale 
proportionally  less — about  forty  hogsheads  in 
twenty-four  hours,  or  more  than  a  gallon  a 
minute. 

It  is  proper  to  consider  air  which  ,has  been 
once  breathed,  as  unfit  for  further  respiration, 
or  spoiled.  But  admitting  this  to  be  the  case, 
we  spoil  the  air  for  the  purposes  of  breathing, 
at  the  rate  of  more  than  a  gallon  a  minute. 
So,  in  fact,  Dr.  Franklin  used  to  say,  fifty 
years  ago. 

VENTILATION. — Now  if  these  things  are 
so,  how  careful  ought  we  to  be,  not  to  have 
our  rooms  in  which  we  sit  or  sleep  too  tight, 
or  too  long  closed  !  What  pains  onght  we  to 
take  to  ventilate  (purify)  them  often,  by  open- 
ing the  doors  or  the  windows !  This  is  the 
more  necessary  where  we  are  without  fires  ; 
for  a  fire  helps  to  ventilate  a  room,  if  there  is  a 
chimney;  though  without  the  latter,  it  only 
renders  our  condition  the  more  dangerous, 
since  it  increases  more  rapidly  the  poisonous 
carbonic  acid  gas.  You  have  probably  read, 
in  the  papers,  the  numerous  stories  of  people 


236  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

being  found  dead  in  rooms  which  were  tight, 
where  they  had  been  burning  charcoal. 

Our  school  rooms,  our  concert  rooms,  and 
our  churches,  too — how  dangerous  must  it  be 
to  crowd  them,  and  sit  for  a  long  time  in 
them,  as  we  sometimes  do,  without  ventilation. 
How  easy  is  it  to  raise  a  window,  or  open  a 
door.  And  though  we  might  thus  expose  an 
individual,  here  and  there,  to  take  cold,  how 
much  more  is  he  exposed  to  injury,  by  sitting 
in  and  breathing  the  bad  air. 

FREE  MOTION  OF  THE  LUNGS. — Not  only 
should  the*  air  be  good,  but  the  lungs  should 
have  free  play  in  inhaling  it.  From  youth  to 
maturity,  we  should  follow  no  employment 
which,  for  any  considerable  time,  will  cramp 
or  confine  them.  Neither  should  we  sit  or 
stand  too  long  in  a  bad  position,  as  young 
people  are  apt  to  do,  in  schools  or  factories. 
Nor  should  our  dress  be  so  tight  as  to  press 
against  any  part  of  the  chest. 

How  much  is  it  to  be  regretted  that  there 
are  parents,  instructors,  and  even  teachers  of 
military  schools,  who  think  it  proper  and  ne- 


FURNITURE,  AND  ITS  USES.      237 

cessary  to  spoil  the  lungs,  and  thus  induce  dis- 
ease and  shorten  life,  in  order  to  teach  their 
children,  pupils,  or  cadets,  the  art  of  putting 
back  their  shoulders  and  walking  erect. 

TIGHT  LACING. — Our  health  is  always  in- 
jured by  all  sorts  of  lacing,  as  well  as  by  stays, 
braces,  corsets,  tight  vests,  &c.  We  are  not 
only  the  more  exposed  to  colds,  pleurisies,  fe- 
vers and  consumptions,  but  also  to  diseases  of 
the  very  bones  themselves — the  breast  bone, 
the  ribs  and  the  spine.  I  say  again,  therefore, 
beware  of  anything  tight  about  the  breast. 
The  Prussian  physicians  recommend  to  peo- 
ple to-  wear  no  cravat  or  stock,  and  to  leave 
their  bosoms  unbuttoned  and  bare  ;  and  no 
people  in  the  same  climate,  and  under  similar 
circumstances  in  other  respects,  are  more  free 
from  consumptions  and  all  sorts  of  diseases  of 
the  lungs,  than  those  who  observe  this  rule. 

It  is  very  strange  that  so  many  people — and 
some  too  who  think  themselves  very  wise 
teachers — should  still  hold  to  the  idea  that 
moderately  tight  lacing  of  the  lungs  strength- 
ens them.  Mrs.  Phelps,  in  her  "  Lectures  to 
Young  Ladies,"  inculcates  this  erroneous  idea. 


238 


THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 


It  is  greatly  to  be  hoped  that  the  world  will 
very  soon  get  wiser  on  this  subject. 

We  generally  succeed  far  better  in  attempts 
to  mend  the  works  of  our  own  hands  than 
those  of  the  Creator.  He  appears  to  have 
made  the  human  frame  so  perfect,  that  if  in 
our  ignorance,  abuse,  excess,  or  vain  attempts 
to  improve  it,  we  did  not  usually  injure  it,  it 
might  last  in  a  healthy  condition  for  a  much 
longer  period  than  it  now  does. 

In  closing  this  chapter,  I  will  show  you  a 
picture  of  the  bones  of  two  human  chests,  one 
of  which  is  in  its  perfect  state,  and  the  other 
has  been  injured  by  tight  lacing.  I  need  not 
remind  you  which  of  them  has  been  injured  ; 
its  narrow,  contracted  lower  part  will  at  once 
show  you. 


FURNITURE,  AND    ITS    USES.  239 

I  ought  also  to  remark  that  this  picture, 
according  to  the  statement  of  Dr.  Comstock, 
by  no  means  exaggerates  the  evil  effects  of 
tight  lacing.  He  says  "it  is  not  nearly  so 
great  as  we  believe  actually  takes  place  in 
many  instances  of  tight  lacing ; "  and  I  believe 
so  too. 

If  what  I  have  said  here  on  the  nature  and 
structure  of  the  chest,  should  lead  any  person 
to  study  the  structure  of  these  important 
organs,  the  lungs,  from  our  large  but  excellent 
treatises  on  Anatomy  and  Physiology,  he  will 
find  himself  most  amply  repaid  for  his  labor, 
and  will  forever  bless  the  day  in  which  his 
attention  was  arrested  and  his  mind  drawn  to 
the  subject. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

TEMPERATURE  OF  APARTMENTS. 

Curious    Question.       Variations   of    Tem- 
perature. 

FEW  if  any  ordinary  buildings,  whether 
dwellings,  shops,  or  factories,  are  so  constructed 
as  to  preserve  exactly  the  same  temperature 
in  every  apartment  and  at  all  seasons.  And 
as  for  heating  themselves  in  this  manner,  by 
the  very  employments  or  manufactures  which 
are  carried  on  within  them,  nobody  probably 
ever  heard  of  such  a  thing.  A  self-heating 
house  !  Why  it  would  excite  as  much  aston- 
ishment as  would  a  machine  which  should 
really  have  the  power  of  perpetual  motion. 

And  yet  the  house  I  live  in  has  this  power, 
wonderful  as  it  is,  of  not  only  heating  itself  by 
the  process  of  generating  and  purifying  blood, 
of  which  I  have  treated  at  a  great  length,  and 
by  others  curious  processes,  but  of  regulating 


TEMPERATURE  OF  APARTMENTS.    241 

that  heat,  and  keeping  it  at  just  such  a  point, 
with  scarcely  any  perceivable  variation. 

The  heat  of  the  human  body  is  never  far 
from  98°  of  Fahrenheit's  thermometer.  By 
this  we  mean,  that  if  you  could  plunge  the 
bulb  of  the  thermometer,  containing  the  quick- 
silver or  mercury,  into  the  flesh  of  the  body, 
or  even  hold  it  in  your  mouth,  the  mercury 
would  rise  in  the  tube  till  it  got  to  about  98°, 
and  then  stop. 

Now  why  does  this  heat  continue  nearly  the 
same  at  all  times,  and  in  all  places  ?  If  you 
were  to  take  a  piece  of  wood  or  iron,  about 
the  size  and  shape  of  a  man,  heated  to  98°, 
and  set  it  up  in  Greenland  or  Lapland,  where 
it  is  so  cold  that  the  mercury  would  sink  to 
20°  in  the  open  air,  do  you  think  this  iron 
would  remain  heated  to  98°  ?  Would  not  the 
air  cool  it  down  to  about  20°  ?  How  would  it 
be  with  a  man  of  wood  or  straw?  How,  even 
with  the  body  of  a  dead  man  ? 

Does  any  one  suppose  that  the  body  of  a  dead 

man  heated  about  as  hot  as  that  of  a  living 

man,  and  put  out  in  the  open  air  of  Greenland, 

would  remain  so  warm  very  long  ?     Then  why 

21 


242  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

should  the  living  body  of  a  man  ?  Why  does 
not  the  cold  air  rob  it  of  its  spare  heat,  just  as 
it  would  a  mass  of  straw. or  iron?  Yet  nothing 
is  better  proved  than  that  it  does  not. 

The  skin,  and  outside  of  the  hands,  face, 
&c.,  may  be  cold,  and  sometimes  frozen,  but 
the  blood  and  flesh  will  generally  remain  about 
as  warm  as  ever,  unless  a  person  actually 
freezes  to  death.  In  that  case,  the  heat 
escapes  very  soon  ;  and  hence  the  dead,  as 
you  know,  soon  become  cold. 

CURIOUS  QUESTION. — But  why  the  heat 
does  not  escape  from  everybody,  so  that  they 
freeze  to  death,  is  the  point  in  question.  You 
will  not  suppose  there  is  a  fire  somewhere  in 
the  inside  of  us,  which  keeps  up  the  heat. 
For  if  so,  what  supplies  the  fuel  ?  Did  you 
ever  know  of  any  wood  or  coal  being  used  for 
the  purpose  ?  Spirits  will  burn,  it  is  true,  but 
some  people  do  not  pour  any  of  this  into  their 
bodies  to  make  fire  of,  and  yet  they  are  just  as 
warm  as  other  people;  nay,  even  warmer  ;  for 
the  blood  of  the  dram  drinker  is  a  little  colder 
than  the  blood  of  the  man  who  drinks  nothing 
but  water. 


TEMPERATURE  OF  APARTMENTS.    243 

When  we  think  of  all  this,  and  remember 
that  people  can  live  very  comfortably  in 
climates  like  Labrador,  and  Greenland,  and 
Norway,  and  Lapland,  and  Siberia,  where 
everything  around  them — air,  water,  earth, 
trees,  &c., — is  cooled  down  to  less  than  half 
the  heat  of  the  human  body,  for  almost  all  the 
year,  and  to  the  freezing  point,  (32°  of  the 
thermometer,)  a  part  of  the  time,  is  it  not  a 
great  wonder  that  all  our  bones,  and  flesh,  and 
blood,  can  keep  up  to  a  temperature  of  98°,  or 
nearly  that,  not  only  through  an  hour,  or  a 
day,  but  through  a  pretty  long  life  ? 

It  is,  indeed,  almost  a  miracle  ;  or  would  be 
thought  so,  if  we  thought  anything  about  it. 
It  shows  at  least,  how  wonderful  life  is.  For 
not  only  man,  but  all  living  animals  have  this 
same  power.  Birds  have  even  a  higher  heat 
than  man.  The  blood  of  some  of  them  rises 
to  a  temperature  of  about  108°.  If  it  were 
not  so,  they  would  often  freeze  to  death  in  the 
cold  season,  and  perhaps  split  to  pieces ;  as  the 
frost,  in  swelling  it,  sometimes  cracks  the  fro- 
zen ground  to  pieces,  and  as  trees  are  some- 
times split  in  the  same  way,  in  very  severe 
winters. 


244  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

You  should  be  told,  also,  that  living  trees, 
and  shrubs,  and  plants,  and  seeds,  have  this 
same  power  of  resisting  the  cold — in  a  degree 
— that  animals  have.  Trees  do  not  often 
freeze  very  hard.  Were  it  not  for  this  con- 
trivance of  the  great  Creator,  everything 
would  perish  in  the  winter ;  and  we  should 
have  no  beautiful  trees  and  green  fields  in  the 
spring.  Besides,  if  we  had,  there  would  be  no 
men  and  other  animals  alive  to  enjoy  them. 

But  we  not  only  have  this  wonderful  power 
of  resisting  cold  ;  we  are  also  equally  able  to 
resist  extreme  heat.  -By  long  practice,  men 
have  become  able  to  remain  in  ovens  and  other 
places,  heated  to  220°,  and  even  270°  of 
Fahrenheit,  for  ten  or  twelve  minutes  at  a  time. 
The  only  serious  inconvenience  which  arises 
in  such  cases  is  a  profuse  perspiration.*  But 
a  piece  of  flesh  without  life  would,  in  ten  min- 

*  Perspiration  always  modifies  the  heat  of  the  hu- 
man body  more  or  less,  and  is  one  means  of  keep- 
ing us  cool.  The  reason  is,  that  the  moisture  on  the 
surface  of  our  bodies  evaporates ;  and  this  produces 
cold.  It  is  said  that  you  may  almost  freeze  a  man 
in  midsummer,  by  keeping  him  wet  with  ether ;  so 
rapidly  does  the  ether  evaporate. 


TEMPERATURE  OF  APARTMENTS.    245 

utes,   in   such  a  heat,  be   thoroughly  baked. 
Water  boils,  as  you  know,  at  212°. 

Having  laid  down  and  illustrated  the  general 
rule  that  the  temperature  of  our  bodies  does 
not  vary  much,  it  may  be  well  to  mention  some 
of  those  slight  variations  which,  in  different 
circumstances,  are  found  to  exist. 

VARIATIONS  OF  TEMPERATURE. — Infants, 
except  when  just  born,  have  a  temperature  of 
only  about  94°.  The  heat  increases  to  matu- 
rity, after  which  it  remains  nearly  stationary  at 
about  98°,  until  we  begin  to  decline,  when  it 
again  slightly  diminishes.  In  the  spring  and 
the  beginning  of  summer,  it  increases  a  little, 
in  persons  of  every  age ;  but  declines  again 
towards  winter.  When  a  person  is  greatly 
enfeebled  by  sickness  or  otherwise,  it  is  slightly 
diminished.  In  fevers  and  inflammations,  it 
sometimes  increases  to  104°,  and  even  to  107°. 

But  I  have  not  yet  told  you  how  this  steady 
temperature  of  98°  is  kept  up  in  the  human 
system,  in  spite  of  the  extremes  of  heat  and 
cold.  Indeed  I  cannot  do  it ;  for  I  do  not 
know.  I  have  already  told  you  that  the  eva- 
poration of  the  matter  of  perspiration  on  our 


246  THE    HOUSE    I    LIVE    IN. 

skins  has  some  effect  in  keeping  us  cool ;  but 
this  cannot  be  the  sole  cause  why  men  can 
remain  with  impunity  in  places  heated  to  a 
greater  temperature  than  boiling  heat.  There 
must  be  other  causes  not  yet  fully  understood. 
As  to  the  reason  why  we  retain  so  high  a 
heat  as  98°,  when  the  temperature  of  the  at- 
mosphere is  almost  always  greatly  below  that, 
there  have  been  a  great  many  speculations — 
guesses — by  philosophers;  but  they  have,  in 
general,  been  mere  guesses.  The  process  of 
digestion,  the  formation  of  chyle,  the  change 
of  chyle  into  blood,  and  the  change  of  the 
blood  in  the  lungs — especially  the  latter — are 
all  believed  to  have  a  part  in  the  work.  Yet 
they  do  not,  by  their  united  efforts,  accomplish 
one  half  of  it ;  and  it  remains  for  future  anato- 
mists and  physiologists  to  investigate  the  sub- 
ject more  deeply.  How  far  the  laws  of  the 
great  Creator  may  ultimately  be  discovered,  in 
this,  as  well  as  in  a  thousand  other  things,  of 
which  we  are  yet  ignorant,  it  is  not  easy  for 
us,  in  the  present  infancy  of  human  knowledge, 
to  conjecture. 


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MAR  17 1993 


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